Tumbling through Time
by sailormoonserenity99
Summary: Marauders will be marauders. Can anyone really be surprised to find James Potter and Sirius Black 20 years into the future? Yep, those two do a spell and arrive during the Christmas holidays of 1996, to the great surprise of Holly and Sirius. Can they keep the two troublemakers safe from death eaters and not destroy the timeline? Include FEMALE Harry and ALIVE Sirius.
1. Chapter 1

**WARNING: This is a female Harry story. This Harry, or Holly as it is, is BORN AS A GIRL. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THESE KIND OF STORIES THEN BE MATURE AND HIT THAT BACK BUTTON, complaining about it is just plain stupid. Thank you.**

 **DISCLAIMER: Obviously I do not own Harry Potter or any of its wonderful characters. But I might stick a minor OC somewhere, who knows.**

 **Setting: Christmas 1996, and Sirius Black is alive in this story thank you very much.**

 **Notes in hopes to ease confusion: Sirius from the past will be called Padfoot and Sirius from the present will be Sirius. Of course, sometimes they might also be called Mr Black or Snuffles or Idiot.**

* * *

Chapter 1 **A Rough Landing**

"Come on Prongs! It's a great idea."

"Padfoot, I'm not very sure about this"

"Oh shut up, don't be a spoilsport. Where's your marauder spirit? We'll have so much fun, think of all the stuff we'll see! Then we can come back and impress everyone with our wisdom. I can already see the look on Minnie's face."

"That will be pretty funny."

"Exactly, so what are we waiting for?"

"Well, uh…"

"Well? If you don't spit it out soon I'm going to go ahead and have all the fun without you."

James Potter paused, and thought of all the trouble Sirius Black could cause if he went alone. Looking at his crazy best friend, he knew it would be a huge amount. "Fine."

"Excellent answer Prongs, if I could I would give Gryffindor 10 points right now."

"If you could you would just give Gryffindor the house and Quidditch cups."

"True, now let's get going! Time does not wait, and the prefects will be here any second. Isn't Moony and Evans on patrol tonight?"

At the mention of his Lily-flower, James perked up. "Yeah, they are. Let's go."

Not long after, a white flash surrounded the hallway, and the two troublemakers disappeared.

When the Gryffindor prefects Lily Evans and Remus Lupin came around to investigate, they found nothing incriminating. So both decided to head back to the dorms, but both were silently suspecting the same people for the mysterious flash of light.

* * *

Holly Potter was sitting in a very comfortable armchair at Grimmauld Place, reading a book on Pureblood traditions from the vast Black family library, with Snuffles curled up by her feet when a blinding flash encompassed the room. She immediately shielded her eyes with one hand while reaching for her wand with the other. She heard Snuffles growling and placing himself between her and whatever just appeared.

Opening her eyes, she wondered if someone had hexed her eyesight, because she should not be seeing what she saw. Her father and godfather, younger than they should be, were sprawled out on the floor, not moving. Holly was immediately concerned and wanted to check them for injuries, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her – Sirius.

"Stay back." It wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.

* * *

Sirius Black had been wrongly imprisoned in the most feared magical prison of all time for crimes he did not commit for 12 years. With more than a decade of exposure to the deadly dementors, he often wondered if he was having hallucinations. That's what happened to every other prisoner in Azkaban. It was only his animagus transformations and repeated thoughts of 'I'M **INNOCENT** ' that kept him sane (most of the time) after all these years.

But now, standing before what appeared to be himself and his best friend, he heavily questioned his sanity.

Sirius looked at Holly, and saw that she could see them as well, and decided that he was not crazy after all, unbelievable as it sounded. But before he could do anything, the marauders recovered from their fall.

"Ouch, what in the name of Merlin was _THAT_."

"Hey, don't blame me. I didn't know the spell provided such poor quality landing."

"Of course you didn't." Grumbling, James Potter sat up, fixed his glasses and looked around. Only to come face to face with Sirius, but he looked strange. Older, way older than he should be. "Oh…" was the very intelligent response from James when he realized what was going on. "Uh Padfoot?" The older Sirius flinched at the nickname while the younger seemed to have just gotten up from their 'poorly provided landing'.

"Yeah what?" Padfoot sat up and looked around, and saw what appeared to be his future self. But he looked… SO BLOODY **OLD**.

"What year is this?" James asked, hoping to break the tension that suddenly filled the room.

"1996." A female voice. James looked around and saw his twin, or someone who most definitely could have been his twin, but with green eyes.

Hearing the voice of his goddaughter, sense returned to Sirius, and growled out "If you two don't explain yourselves now, I'll put Bella's curses to shame."

Ever the charmer, Padfoot stated "Nice to meet you too, I suppose you're my future self, but heavens knows how I aged so much in just 20 years. This dork here is my best friend, James Potter."

"Prove it."

The marauders looked at each other, and shrugged. Since this was their future self, he would already know their secrets. Seconds later, a majestic stag and a big furry dog replaced the two boys.

Sirius looked at the two, face paling rapidly, and managed a stiff nod to show his trust in their words. He was at a loss as to why this was happening, but at least they weren't death eaters, and that was all he cared about. Holly was safe, for now. Besides, time travel shouldn't shock him so much, he was raised in the magical world!

But then a not so nice thought struck him. His sweet goddaughter is currently in a room with two of the naughtiest boys of their time. James wasn't so bad, considering he's been smitten with Lily since third year. But Sirius, his past self, was the biggest flirt in the history of Hogwarts and he didn't want to go down that memory lane, not where Holly was concerned.

Azkaban had done a lot to Sirius Black. It haunted his memories day and night, but it also matured him, a bit too much, and it definitely increased his protectiveness over his goddaughter to just a tad possessive. When Holly was born, and Sirius declared as her godfather. He and James had discussed the plans they had in store for the poor unfortunate boys that would eventually try to date Holly. Key word is _TRY_. Because as long as Sirius Black is around, they will never get their dirty little hands on his sweet little Princess. Some memories which survived the dementors include their planning sessions. It was decided that James would hex the poor souls while Sirius shall prank them so drastically that it will make the Norse Trickery God Loki proud. (Merlin help the morons who get past them and break dear Holly's heart! That's where Remus and Lily will come in of course) While they went over their attack strategies, Lily would be muttering something about 'how those men are still boys' to herself in the background while holding baby Holly and Remus would just smile a smile that said 'what did you expect, they'll never grow up' and shake one of Holly's toys in front of her, inciting a laugh every now and then.

A noise from the time travelers drew Sirius from his thoughts, and he had a conclusion. _Let them stay here but keep younger me **AWAY** FROM HOLLY!_

Turning back, he saw James was looking around in curiosity, while Padfoot had been looking at him, and when he took a better glance at the interior of the room, he froze in shock, then exploded "WHY THE HELL AM I STILL HERE AFTER 20 BLOODY YEARS!"

"Sirius, we need to explain."

"Ah shit."

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 **Aaaaannnnddddd that's chapter 1! What do you think? Does this story have hope or should it be thrown into a dark corner and never see the light of day again.**

 **Please leave a review**


	2. Chapter 2

**A big thank you to everyone who left a review, favourited and followed this story!**

 **There might be some confusion with the use of Sirius Black for both Siriuses (is that even a word? it is now) but if you read it I think the content will be quite clear, hopefully.**

 **Also, I'm Australian, I typed this story up under an Australian spell check, but when I uploaded it to Doc manager and edited it on here everything goes under the American spelling. So I hope there's not too much confusion with the words.**

 **DISCLAIMER: all these characters belong to J.K Rowling**

 **Enjoy reading. :)**

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Chapter 2 **Thoughts and frustrations**

While his best friend Sirius Black, or Padfoot as the marauders preferred, was on a rant about his dreadful mother, and his best friend's future self (the other Sirius) was muttering something about dirty little boys, James Potter took a moment to look around and gather his thoughts. _Maybe we should call him Sirius senior, no that's his great-grandfather. What about Mr Black? Oh Merlin no, that sounds too serious. Oh wait, I did not just, oh yes I did. Oh Merlin Padfoot must never know about this, at least he can't perform legilimency._ While mentally face palming himself, his eyes came to rest upon the girl who looked so like him.

She had curly black hair which was tied up in a messy ponytail, a heart shaped face with high cheekbones, a pert nose, rosy lips, and - James gasped at the familiarity - dazzling green eyes, shining like emeralds with curiosity and a touch of fear. He hoped she wasn't scared of him.  
The girl looked at him and their eyes made contact for a second, and he saw her eyes widen in surprise, before she broke it off.

"Sirius, we need to explain."  
Padfoot's older self snapped himself out of his own ramblings with an elegant "Ah Shit." Which pulled his younger self back to the real world as well.

* * *

Sirius Black was exhilarated, they had performed extraordinary magic, far beyond the expectations for his age level. He and Prongs had travelled 20 years into the future, an amazing feat! Maybe his mother would be pleased if she ever heard about this, she'll never show her pride to others, of course. But she'll say to his father in the privacy of their house that only a scion of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black could perform this level of magic at such a young age. But then she'll complain about how it was Sirius and not Regulus. Her talented son who is ever so obedient to his parents, and of course she wouldn't care for any of his accomplishments since she disowned him. And this thought killed a bit of his enthusiasm, only a bit.

He took a deep breath and looked at himself, his older self, who was staring right back.

That creeped him out. So he looked at the girl from before, and lost his breath.

She was stunningly beautiful, with curly black hair, pale skin and those sparkling green eyes. Her sweet lips were open in surprise, and he wished he could test that sweetness himself.

But what shocked him the most was her resemblance to his best friend. Before he could question it, Mr-future-Sirius-Black had noticed his gaze towards his goddaughter and fatherly protectiveness was turned on at full blast.

* * *

Sirius Black had decided that he would let the two time travellers stay in his humble home, he was considering how much to tell them about the news of today when he noticed his younger self staring at Holly. **EMERGENCY!**

What do you do when you need to protect your goddaughter from the less than innocent intentions of hormone filled teenage boys? He didn't know, and the people who did know were either dead, insane, or imprisoned, and maybe all three. And one of the people in those categories was the father of the goddaughter in question and the man who had the good sense to make _him_ the godfather.

With no further advice, because who in their right mind would give Sirius Black parenting advice. He may have been the biggest flirt of his day but everyone had to admit he could perform the best damn contraception charm. James and he had heard dear Professor Flitwick telling Professor McGonagall that on one of their adventures under the cloak after curfew. Furthermore to their shock and proud embarrassment, McGonagall had agreed!

He didn't need the responsibility of little Blacks running around before he completed Hogwarts. Although that would have infuriated his mother beyond belief. Bastards of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black? Oh the shame it would bring.

Or the blackmail if it was with a pureblood daughter, and there's his Slytherin side.

He's a Black, of course he would have some Slytherin qualities.

But there was no use going down that thought, the past is in the past. Anyway, with no further advice, he proceeded to push Holly out of the room. To the safety of a room sans Mr Flirt. "I think Remus is in the library, why don't you go to him and ask for some help on some spells hmm?"  
Holly sent him an exasperated look as if to say _I'm not a baby_.

 _Of course you are_ he thought back, but she'd never know that. He realised she had Lily's temper.

Holly sent one last curious look at the direction of the unexpected visitors, and walked out of the room, allowing Sirius to close the door on her back.

He turned around at the sound of a wolf whistle. Glaring, he demanded "That better have not been for my goddaughter."  
Padfoot answered that with a smirk.  
"Who is she?" Oh yeah, James was also there.  
"My goddaughter, Holly Potter."

The mood suddenly turned serious, very serious.

Flabbergasted expressions instantly appeared on their faces with stunned disbelief. Until:  
"Wow Prongs, your daughter is hot."  
"M-m-my d-daughter!?"  
"Who else would look so much like you with me as the godfather in 20 years?"  
"My daughter, I have a daughter. Another Potter..."  
"Yes, that's right. You'll have a daughter, and she'll be your goddaughter," Here Sirius glared at his younger self "and as her godfather, it is my job to protect her from unpleasant encounters."  
"Wouldn't that be her father's - James' job?"

Oh shit, he forgot about that detail. What should he do now? How can he make this situation understandable without saying that Lily and James Potter will be murdered by Voldemort in a few years' time, leaving their daughter an orphan who ends up in the oh-so-loving care of Lily's sister, Holly's Aunt Petunia. Petunia herself wasn't much of a problem, it was that horrid muggle Vernon and his son Dudley.

Sirius will never forgive them for what they did to Holly, and thanked the Gods each day that he now had custody of her since the ministry of magic incident.

He was so close to the veil when dearest cousin Bellatrix threw that stunner at him quickly followed by a mild cutting curse that hit his wand arm. Had it not been for Holly who came quickly to his defence, he would've left with so much more than a bleeding arm, or much less as he remembered some of the tales featuring his cousin from the first war. Or even worse, had he been a feet further from where he stood at the time, the angle of his fall would've landed him through the veil. The damage that would have done to Holly was unimaginable. He vaguely recalled Remus quickly reviving him and they chased after Holly to the atrium, Remus helping Sirius who was hit with a minor bone weakening curse on the way out.

There they watched horrified and gleeful as Holly cast her first unforgivable on Voldemort's most loyal follower. Needless to say, they were quite shaken when Voldemort arrived. Not because of the oh-so-scary Dark Lord, of course not. But rather because of the close proximity he was in to Holly. Poor Holly, who already had to go against multiple highly powerful death eaters prior to the arrival of the order of the phoenix, was quite exhausted, and unfortunately, her robes had been torn a considerable amount at some point during all the fighting. Sirius did not like how close Voldemort was to his goddaughter when she wasn't properly dressed – or armed, and neither did Remus. His irises were tinted gold, while Sirius thought launching a surprise werewolf attack on Voldemort was a great idea, he did not want Remus to be further discredited in the event should a ministry personnel turned up – where the hell were they all anyway, there should at least be a night guard.

Sirius shook himself out of it, again. He really has been experiencing more flashbacks after that incident, Remus says it might be an effect of being so close to the veil.

"Um, hello? Mr Black?"

Oh yes, his past mischievous self had managed to travel to the future along with his the past self of his dead best friend. Pulling together his dignity, he answered the haunting face of James Potter "That's me" and after a pause "please, call me Sirius."

The boy smiled, and Sirius realised that Holly's smile rather resembled Lily's. "As you might have noticed, we have accomplished a most extraordinary feat" Ah, of course, it was the flattering tone James always used when caught red-handed by his professors or mother. "Unfortunately, we have encountered a difficulty and-"

Sirius held up a hand, he didn't have time for this crap. "I think you've forgotten, I am your best mate's future self, and therefore I know what you're thinking."

James stopped, and looked up, a most confused expression across his face. Was this the infamous _Dunderhead_ _expression_ Snape complained about so often? "You do?" and a second later "oh yes, of course you do, of course. Sorry, I'm being an idiot."

"What do you mean _being_ , you're just _emphasising_ your natural quality." Ah, his younger self always needed the attention, he remembered that well.

"Padfoot!"

"It's fine. He's me after all."

"Oh… Well, I suppose that's true."

Padfoot grinned, and turned to Sirius. "So, I heard Prongslette saying something about explaining stuff? What stuff are we talking about here? Answers to our NEWTs I hope, although I doubt I would remember them after 20 years. In fact, I know I wouldn't. Pity."

"It's a miracle you actually thought about work Pad."

"HEY! I do have a brain you know, I just choose to put it to more entertaining uses."

"Yes, you certainly did."

All heads turned towards the door as a new voice filled with sarcasm joined in the conversation, and the person behind it.

* * *

 **Author's note: a semi-cliff-hanger I suppose, nothing to scream about I assure you, but do give your answer in a review about who you think the new addition to the story is.**

 **Once again, thank you all for reading, I will try to update asap :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Firstly, I must apologize to everyone for this long wait. School started not long after the last chapter so I didn't have much time. But about a few weeks ago, I had everything typed up and ready to publish, until my laptop messed up and I lost this chapter. I can only hope this chapter will fulfill your expectations.**

 **Secondly, thank you to everyone who have reviewed, favourited and followed this story. Those email notifications make me really happy.**

 **Thirdly, this story was added to "The 'Miss Potter' Collection" and that's like my favourite female harry story collection so I'm really happy about that.**

 **Lastly, enjoy this chapter!**

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 **DISCLAIMER:** everyone knows but I'll say it anyway. **I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CHARACTER IN THIS STORY** (sad...) **THEY ALL BELONGS TO J.K ROWLING**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Awkward Questions**

 _ **Slam**_

"I'm not a baby anymore you know." The door gave no response, and staring yielded no further results. At some point, Holly realised that Sirius must have cast a silencing charm on the door. Defeated, she decided to go along with his suggestion.

She easily found Remus in the library engrossed in a book, as usual. He had been strangely distant this holiday, she thought it was due to the news of the werewolf clans offering Voldemort their support. "Hi Remus," it was weird to call one of your former professors by their given names.

Remus Lupin looked up to see his favourite former student "Hey Holly, what brings you here? I thought you were nice and cosy in the drawing room with Snuffles curled up by your feet."

"Couldn't I just drop in?" Suspicious.

"You were most reluctant to leave your spot by the fireplace for dinner, so why are you here?"

Holly pouted, Remus always saw through her tricks. Perhaps it was the years of experience with the marauders back in their school years – oh wait.

Was there really an easy way to break the news? Holly was a Gryffindor, and she decided that she had to brave the storm. "James Potter and Sirius Black from the past has time travelled to the drawing room." Remus choked on his water and dropped his book, Holly went forward to help him.

"Jame- *cough* Siri- *cough cough* time travel- *cough* drawing room!?" His voice was croaky but Holly could understand. Sure Remus had been expecting some troublesome news, but not at this level.

"Ummm Yes?" No point crying over spilt milk.

Remus took a moment to gather himself, then stood up straight and declared "I'm going to kill him." And marched out of the library will Holly on his heels.

He easily took down the charms and wards on the door and opened it gracefully just in time to hear some good-natured banter."

"It's a miracle you actually thought about work Pad." Oh Merlin Holly wasn't joking. It was James, the same man who had been dead for these 15 years.

"HEY! I do have a brain you know, I just choose to put it to more entertaining uses." Ah, and pre-Azkaban Sirius.

As a marauder, Remus had to have his say "yes, you certainly did."

"Remus." And there was the Sirius of his time, he looked exhausted, furious and a bit nervous. Ha, picture perfect expression indeed.

"Sirius, what the hell happened." Padfoot was about to open his mouth but Remus interrupted. "No not you, the other Sirius, our Sirius."

"They –we – I performed a time travelling spell." Oh yes, this was going down very well. You could just tell by how high the arch of Remus' eyebrow was getting

"You?" Sirius Black of the past and present both looked a little indignant at his underestimation of their abilities. "You performed a time travelling spell that sent you" a look at the two told him they were in their senior years, and James didn't have his Head Boy badge yet "about 20 years into the future?"

Sirius shrugged, but he honestly couldn't recall any such trip "Yeah I guess."

Blunt honesty, at least better than poetically crafted lies. "So what now, they'll need a place to stay until we send them back."

"The spell lasts for seven days." All heads turned to Padfoot. "After the seven days is up magic will send us back, all good." Padfoot delivered this vital piece of information with a charming grin, as if time travel was of the same importance as a levitation charm.

Remus looked at Sirius, they seemed to be thinking among the same lines.

"What will we tell the order?" Ever the practical one, Remus had to be the one to bring up the big question. "And what will we tell them-" a nod to the boys "about-" a glance at Holly.

"They already know who she is."

"Yeah, I know she's my future daughter." They turned to James. "But, can someone tell me who her mother – my wife will be?" Another big question no one was too willing to answer, and it was so easy to see that glint of hope in his eyes, for he only had eyes for one special girl.

This made Sirius and Remus very uneasy, as Holly said, they needed to explain. Oh what an awkward explanation it would be indeed. Remus heavily doubted they would believe what happened, or what will happen – for them anyway.

"Where will they stay?" Ever so kind and compassionate, Holly had taken note of the darkening sky and decided it was time to call it a night, and deal with the troublesome issue of time travelling tomorrow.

"Here, we have lots of spare rooms." It was true, Grimmauld place might look small from the outside but expansion charms can do wonders. "Luckily we cleaned out all of the west wing." The west wing was dedicated to entertaining and housing guests.

"I won't have my own room?" Padfoot frowned, he might not like Grimmauld Place all that much but he had a sentimental attachment to his bedroom, wouldn't anyone? He had thought earlier that year when he left home he would never see this place again, but apparently magic proved him wrong.

"It's currently my room." Sirius replied drily. No one could argue with that.

"Great, I assume you two have already eaten?" two synchronised nods "Good. Holly, if you'll please take them to the west wing then, perhaps they'll like to share a room?" Remus was tired, and didn't want to deal with two egoistic Siriuses.

"Yeah."

"That's fine."

"Excellent." And the two left along with Holly.

Remus saw Sirius looking after them, a somewhat worried expression over his face. "Sirius" He didn't even react. "Sirius" Still no reaction. "SIRIUS!" Ah good, he heard. You could tell by the way his shoulders jumped, if he was any less guarded he would have yelped like a puppy.

"What the Fu-"

"Explain." He had no patience left for nonsense.

"What?" idiot.

"Explain what the hell happened."

"Um, me and James' past self travelled 20 years into the future?" Yes, that was quite clear.

"And…?" expand, please.

"And what? What else do you want me to tell you?"

"If he is your past self…"

"If he is my… Oh Merlin."

"You understand now."

"Oh Merlin's beard… Oh shit oh shit Oh SHIT." He was now pacing around, in growing frustration and confusion. "I swear Remus, I can't remember any of this."

"This doesn't add up Sirius, if he is your past self you must have memory of this." Remus paused for a suitable word. "Adventure."

"Well, I don't" He really didn't, although there was a weird sense of déjà vu when they first arrived.

"Then how do you explain all this?"

Sirius ran his hand through his hair, now frequently washed and very handsome. "I really don't know Remus, I really don't. If he is really me, then I would never forget this, and I would never have let Pettigrew be-" He choked on his words. "James and Lily would still be here if I remembered." His shoulders dropped as remorse overcame him.

Remus felt a little guilty for bring such memories back to the _only_ (because that rat was a filthy traitor and most undeserving of the friendship they showed him) best friend he had left and went forward to give him a pat on the back.

"Oh shut up you, I believe that you don't remember any of this. Do you really think I would have thought you capable of killing Lily and James?"

"You did for 12 years."

"I didn't, not at first. But over the years, as I suffered from my condition alone month by month, devoid of the happiness we shared during the nights of the full moon during our Hogwarts years, my bitterness overcame my loyalty to our friendship, and I am so sorry, I know you have forgiven me but I can never forgive myself. I disappointed James by letting Holly live with Petunia for 10 years without checking on her once. I should have-" He was cut off by a punch to his shoulder.

"Stop, just stop. I'm a free man now, as I should _always_ have been, and Holly lives with us now. Everything is fine, well they could get better I admit." Thoughts of Voldemort and certain annoying unwanted house guests temporarily dampened his mood.

Remus chuckled, at least he didn't openly blame him. He knew Sirius carried a grudge, but it was buried deep within him. Besides, he couldn't really blame him for feeling that way. "Now, what say you to a drink or two to drown our sorrows?"

"I say: perfect." And the two former marauders went off to drink their heads off. Just missing the mop of black hair at the doorway.

* * *

The three teenagers walked awkwardly down the hallway, with Padfoot leading them and scowling at portraits of his ancestors every once in a while with a passing remark. "Nasty gargoyles they are…" or "Another ancestor who I'm _almost_ ashamed to share a name with." James thought they would be the ones ashamed to have this dog share their name.

As a result, James and Holly were forced to follow after him, since Padfoot is (or _will be_ in this case) the master of the house, even though Holly was the one charged with the duty of guiding them, but it was clear Padfoot knew his way around his house.

Unable to keep the silence a moment longer, he turned to the girl walking alongside him and blurted out "so, you're my daughter." Well that wasn't awkward at all, James suddenly realised how weird he sounded. Even in the magical world it wasn't everyday your father's past self travelled to your time. "Oh no sorry, I meant-"

Holly laughed, this was her father? He really was a bit dorky, but she could see that this situation unnerved him a bit. "It's ok, this must be really strange for you."

Relief washed over him. "Yeah, to be honest this was all that Jerk's idea, so sorry for interrupting your night like that." Oh Merlin he was getting quite nervous. He must have completely ruined the fatherly admiration she held for him with his stuttering tongue. While on that note, where was her father - his future self?

"Hey Prongslette, Where's Mr Prongs?" Damn it Sirius, just butt in like the insensitive prick you are why don't you.

A strange expression passed over Holly and all her emotions closed off, was that occlumency? "He's... Not here."

"On a merry holiday with your mother I bet, aye?"

"I suppose you could say that." Her tone had suddenly turned very frosty, and the magic aura around her seemed to be growing tenser. "Oh look, we're here, goodnight." She planned to flee the scene as soon as possible, she did not have the energy to deal with this tonight.

"No wait!" Holly winced and looked down at her wrist, James had grabbed her. Her years of malnourishment with her loving relatives had given her a delicate figure and James was no frail boy.

As if sensing her pain, James glanced down and let go as if on fire "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Holly held up a hand 'its ok, sleep now. We'll clear things up tomorrow with a fresh mind, alright?"

"Yeah."

Holly smiled, her father-dear was looking quite contrite, and she didn't want him to sleep with such negative thoughts. So she walked to him and hugged him "Oh come here." She also wanted to answer one of her biggest questions.

James was too surprised to stop her, and simply returned the embrace.

Briefly, Holly wondered if this is what life would've been like if not for Voldemort, life with her loving parents – like the Weasleys – warm hugs from her father and loving kisses from her mother, she unconsciously snuggled closer to James, until that fleabag interrupted.

"Mate, don't get too cosy, she'll be your daughter."

Holly and James jumped apart, blushing in embarrassment and barely restrained anger respectively.

"Well goodnight then." And Holly left the two with that.

"Hey Mate."

"Shut up."

"Ha-ha, don't get too mad."

James' reply was silence, until "I hate you."

Padfoot grinned "Now now, that's not true at all, and you know that."

"Don't make those jests again, they're not funny." James was quite serious. Padfoot chortled but stopped when he saw his best friend's expression.

"Ok ok, I'll stop. I'll stop. Happy?"

James nodded "you better."

Padfoot thought James could do the whole father-parenting thing very well.

Later on, when they were all snuggled up inside their thick, soft blankets armed with warming charms, Padfoot stated "Well I can't blame you, she is hot."

James glanced at him warily in the dark "She'll be your goddaughter, you heard yourself. I've never heard Sirius Black sound so…"

"Serious?" a brief stretch of silence ensued, until a pillow mysteriously found it's way smack bang right in the centre of Padfoot's face. "Owwww, Proooongs."

"Shut up and goodnight, I wish you have a great pranking dream."

"You too, hopefully you will dream prank Snivellus good."

"As if I want him in my dreams."

"Ah of course, you want to dream of your wife-to-be! Well I can't blame you, the finished product is quite something to behold. But please keep it down will you? I'm a heavy sleeper but too much moaning will-"

"I swear if you don't stop…"

"Yeah yeah goodnight" and a second later "but do tell me the juicy parts in the morning" and another pillow found its way to Padfoot's face.

* * *

Holly went downstairs and walked towards the drawing room in hopes of finishing the chapter of her book, until she heard a heartfelt discussion going on. It warmed her heart as she overheard the conversation between Sirius and Remus.

When the truth all came out that night in the Shrieking Shack it was clear they still had a great friendship, but after that night she didn't get to see them much, and it was only after Sirius gained custody that she saw the unspoken tension between the two. She could understand, she would probably feel it herself. The bitterness that one of your best friends would believe you capable of betraying your other best friends and the guilt of condemning one of your best friends to 12 torturous years in a prison so feared the name itself can dampen the mood of the bravest Gryffindor. Their friendship most likely could never be the same again, but life was getting better, and that's all Holly wanted.

She quickly moved out of the way when she saw them heading towards the door, and decided she should head to bed as well. _It'll be a long day tomorrow_ , she thought tiredly to herself.

Moments later, she had to throw up silencing charms around the room to block out the drunken laughter drifting up from her guardians.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **Please leave a review on your thoughts for this chapter. I appreciate _constructive_ criticism. **

**I am working on the next chapter now, hopefully that will be up in less than 2 weeks.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for reading my story. Many thanks (once again) to all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed this story.**

 **In this story I'm going with Charlus and Dorea Potter nee Black as James' parents. The whole Potter family revelation on Pottermore sort of ruined a few minor elements in this story. But that's alright, I'll just ignore it. It's fan fiction.**

' _text_ ' = thoughts

* * *

Chapter 4: **R** **evelation**

Sirius greeted the new day with a mother of all hangovers and a string of Latin and French curses, although it has to be said that they were very creative. He gruffly ordered Kreacher to give him an Invigoration draught and a sobering solution. Finally, when the bitter aftertastes of the dreadful potions settled, Sirius headed to the kitchen.

There, he found Remus in a much better state.

"Alright there?" so kind of him to ask. Does lycanthropy have some effects on alcohol consumption? Very likely by the state Moony was in. All cheery and cooking breakfast at this ungodly hour.

Sirius grunted in reply and grabbed a plate of bacon and eggs cooked by Remus "Thanks" and dug in.

They were putting their plates away when Holly arrived.

"Morning sleepyhead." Sirius grinned, Holly had the Potter hair and it was such a mess in the morning before she brushed it. The grin grew wider when the ones who were at fault for her hair came into view, with even messier hair.

"Good Morning you two."

"Morning."

"What's for breakfast?" that dog, always thinking about food.

"Here." And Remus placed two plates of breakfast before them, while Sirius gave Holly hers.

After everyone had satisfied their stomachs, the dirty dishes were sent to the sink to be taken care of with a few charms thanks to Remus.

Sirius sat back, let out a loud burp, to which Remus rolled his eyes and Holly smiled in amusement. "So what do you want to know?"

James looked up and looked at Holly "Who her mother is."

"Not possible."

"What, why?"

"For the timeline, you must understand." _How can you understand when I don't even understand._

James sat back and grumbled.

Holly felt sorry for him, from what she remembered he was deeply in love with her mother by fifth year "If it's any comfort, you do have a happy marriage." And a tragic end but hey, _**till death do we part** , _it was good while it lasted.

"I'll take that." James smiled, his daughter had a lovely kind soul, and a happy marriage? There was only one witch who could fulfill that for him.

"Any other questions?"

"Why am I still living here?"

"Because all other Blacks are dead, so it's mine now."

"All other Blacks? So Reggie- my brother Regulus is…"

"Dead" Sirius was looking away, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. No one wanted to.

* * *

Padfoot couldn't quite believe it, sure he hated his family, but other than his mother, he did not really want any of his kinsmen dead.

Except Bellatrix, that bitch was psycho.

Regulus had always looked up to him – until Hogwarts.

Uncle Alphard was always a joy, making all those jokes and showing him awesome spells, light and dark.

His cousins – Bella, Andy, Cissy– were also great company, until Hogwarts.

Grandfather Arcturus always said he was the best heir he could have hoped for.

Grandfather Pollux said 'you cannot have a truer Black than he'.

Even great-great-great-aunt Elladora said her brother and nephew would be proud to have such a member of their house named after them.

Sure he had thrown all that away when he turned his back on them, but he always knew it was gone the moment the sorting hat made its decision.

However, he knew his family still cared for him when Uncle Alphard sent him enough gold to live comfortably for the rest of his life, and was disowned in punishment by his mother – Uncle Alphard's own sister.

The Potters had welcomed him with open arms, James' mother Dorea Potter is a Black, was a Black. He knew some still cared.

He had mixed feelings when Grandfather Arcturus sent him a letter the following week, saying the Family Magic had refused to cut him off from the direct line of House Black. It was confusing, but he understood the key information. He was no longer the son of Walburga Black, but remained the son of Orion and grandson of Arcturus Black. He would later spit on the letter and burn it.

But that was beside the point, if every one of the House of Black was dead, then that would mean…

"The Potters."

James was confused, his best friend had just been told that in 20 years all his family members would be dead and he would be the last surviving Black, and the first thing he says is 'The Potters'? Is he mad? "What?"

"He said all of my house is dead, what happened to the Potters?"

Sirius swore under his breath, should've seen that one coming. "I meant all Blacks by name is dead."

"Which means you have gained Lordship?"

Sirius shifted uncomfortably, he was raised as heir but he never had a head for politics. Sure he could make a successful politician, but it wasn't his passion, James had the same problem as him. "Yes…"

"And your heir is?"

"I have no children." Sirius had already named Holly as his heir the moment he was cleared and formally declared as head of house.

Because there was no fucking way he would let Bellatrix have it. It'll basically be Voldemort, and the thought of that monster controlling the power of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black in the Wizengamot sickened him.

Andromeda was out of the question since she was disowned. He tried to reverse that but the family magic refused. It was a full and legal disownment, by law and magic.

Narcissa was alright, but Merlin be damned if he lets Lucius Malfoy have the power, that also cut Draco out of the picture. Cissy was never one for open debate anyway, preferring to operate behind the scenes, so simply, all of grandfather Pollux's line was unacceptable.

Therefore, the next possible candidate was Holly, and she was his godchild, and to the eyes of the Wizarding world, a godchild to a childless man was as good as a biological child.

"I never married?"

"Nope, not the marrying type."

Padfoot nodded, he had expected that.

* * *

Remus decided that their greatest curiosity had been tamed, and felt that it was the right time to move to the next topic.

"First of all, there will be restrictions to our answers due to the timeline, we can't have you going back and changing your actions too much. While some of it may be good but a lot can end up badly. So in the case that we must tell you something important, you cannot tell anybody, so will you two swear an oath?"

"We understand." And they took out their wands and made their magical oaths to never reveal the secrets of the future. It was simple really, they both came from old wizarding families and knew how to do it. Even though it was a matter of life and death the most they thought about it was 'the way Father seals important contracts.'

"Good. The first thing we must tell you, is who Holly is."

"I already know she's my daughter."

"There's more to that…"

"What? Oh God you can't mean her mother chea… committed adultery!?" the thought was so unbearable for James that he couldn't even compete the word.

The thought of Lily cheating on James was so unbelievable it stunned Sirius and Remus into silence for a few seconds, which only added to James despair. Luckily, Holly intervened.

"No no, nothing like that. I'm your daughter, and mum was very faithful to you I'm sure."

James managed to breathe again. "If not that, then what?"

"Well…" Holly shifted uncomfortably.

"Well?" Padfoot was getting very curious and impatient.

"It's… complicated."

Padfoot didn't think anything could be more complicated than his own family troubles. The Potters are a loving bunch, so what could be the problem? Although watching Holly nervously bite her lips was a very charming sight. He wouldn't mind doing it himself to be honest.

"Voldemort."

James and Padfoot gave a small shudder.

"He's still around?"

"Unfortunately."

"How come? I thought at least by now he would've been solved! Why hasn't Dumbledore done anything?"

"He has, lots of things. But the moron just won't kick the bloody bucket."

"The fu-" Padfoot held back his dirty mouth in the company of pretty ladies "Why?"

"We don't know, Dumbledore thinks he's getting closer to the secret, but we can't be sure."

"He better be…"

They sat in silence for a while before Remus decided to continue this, better just get it over with. "But he was defeated, for a decade or so."

"What? How?"

"He was defeated and came back? Is he immortal or something?"

"Perhaps, but we can be sure he's deep into the dark arts."

Padfoot frowned, surely the vast Black family library will answer any question to the dark arts. He remembered stumbling across a section on necromancy with Regulus when he was five, they were traumatised for weeks.

"On the night of Halloween 1981" Holly decided to continue the conversation, it was now or never. "Voldemort" she waited for the usual shudders, James and Padfoot bravely resisted, "murdered my parents."

* * *

James was shocked.

Halloween?

1981?

He was barely 21! How could he have died so young?

Her parents? He left his daughter an orphan?

 _Oh Merlin, so that's why she's staying with Padfoot now._ Horrifying realisations were forming by the second. _And her mother, it has to be Lily, who else can it be? He killed-kills us both? But why did he leave Holly? Surely he would not leave her with a chance for revenge._

Looking over at Padfoot, it appeared he was thinking along the same lines. They were both stunned. Sure they had expected more tragic tales, perhaps ones of their own family. James was prepared to hear of his demise, but he expected it to be on the battlefield, preferably battling Voldemort himself, dying a hero's death.

Suddenly a thought occurred to him, the ancestral Potter manor was surrounded with all types of wards, just like the Black manor and Malfoy manor, you could not enter unless invited, or at least accepted by the master of the house, and he was bloody damn sure he and Voldemort would not become besties within the next 5 years.

He voiced his question "How?"

Holly was puzzled, wasn't it obvious how he died? "Killing curse."

"Yeah but how? Potter manor is surrounded by wards and enchantments old and new."

Holly was confused, Potter manor? She had a manor? "Potter manor?"

Now it was James' turn. "You don't know? How can you not know?" He turned to Sirius "How can she not know?"

Like a hot potato, the confusion bounced from one to another "Holly? You don't know?" To Remus: "What does he mean she doesn't know?"

Remus was quite befuddled as well "You don't know Holly?"

Holly was a little nervous at having the attention of everyone suddenly turned on her again. "No?"

"You don't know about your family holdings? Potter manor, and everything else left to you? By your parents?" Remus had adopted his teacher tone now.

"I know I have a vault, Hagrid took me to see it."

"and the vault number is…?"

"Um, 687?"

"Vault 687 is the trust vault the Potter family sets up for its underage children and wards. What about the family vault, do you know of that?"

"No, I only know of vault 687."

"Our family vault is 187."

"Oh ok."

James was a little frustrated that his own daughter, now the head of her house, did not know of her birthright. "Anyway, continue please. But first tell me how… _he_ got through."

"Well…" Holly had lost her nerve after the whole vault fiasco.

"There was a prophecy" Sirius decided he would step in, since this part was thanks to him "predicting the fall of the Voldemort."

A prophecy? James raised his eyebrow, he always considered prophecies to be phony, and his professor of Divinations didn't exactly prove him wrong.

"Long story short, he decided I was _The Chosen One_ and came to kill me." Holly again.

Yeah that went well, the thought of Voldemort going to so much trouble for a mere baby was hard to accept. But hey, who knew what dark arts did to a man.

"and we were in the way…"

Holly gave a grim smile "Yes, you two protected me till the end." And after a moment "and I still remain under my mother's blood protection, thanks to her sacrifice."

James was impressed, blood wards? Trust Lily to activate that. Wait, under her mother's protection? Then shouldn't she be…

"And you've been living with me ever since?" it was Padfoot who asked this time.

Holly fidgeted, this was the really awkward part.

"To protect the Potters against the prophecy, Dumbledore advised them to go under the Fidelius charm, and they agreed to make me the secret keeper." Sirius swallowed, he was haunted by the biggest mistake of his life every day for 12 years. He could do this. "We told Dumbledore that, and he agreed. But then I decided, I decided that we should..." it was never this hard before, why should it be now. "That we should swap secret keepers."

James and Padfoot weren't that stupid, they decided to let him continue without interruption.

"At the time, Remus was sent on a trip to ally the other werewolf clans, but we didn't know that, and I doubted his loyalty, I shouldn't have." Here he turned to Remus "I'm sorry."

"It's alright now, it's all over."

"Anyway, so I swapped. I swapped with, with…" Fury was gathering at the reminder, he pushed it down with the cold reminder of Azkaban. "I swapped with Peter Pettigrew, and he betrayed us. He betrayed us." Breathe in breathe out. Don't get mad, Sirius could not throw a temper now. "Our friend, our mate, we trusted him." Another deep breath. "But he, he went to Voldemort like the rat he is, and spilled everything. That's how James and Lily died. Because of my arrogance, because of Wor- Pettigrew's cowardice."

"Sirius…" the tender tone of Holly calmed him a bit.

"Anyway, after I realised James and Lily were dead. I left Holly with Hagrid and chased after him, but he staged his death and made it look like I killed him and 12 other muggles."

"But how-"

"Doesn't matter. The point is: his plan worked and I was locked up for 12 years in Az-Azkaban." Congratulations to him, he said it all without his temper creating some accidental magic. Now that would have been embarrassing.

Padfoot was shocked, first he finds out his best friend dies in 6 years and now he's told he is locked up for 12 years. This wasn't the _wisdom_ he planned to know when he planned this trip. He wish he had payed more attention to his grandmother Melania when she talked about life and all that.

"What happened to you?" oh yeah, Voldemort was going to kill his pretty little goddaughter-to-be.

"He cast the curse at me, but like I said, my mother's protection saved me, and it rebounded the curse at him."

"But he didn't die."

"No."

"How did he come back?"

"Through a very dark ritual." Holly's voice was starting to shake.

"Bone of the father, flesh of the servant and blood of the foe. Three guesses whose blood he chose."

"Yours…"

Holly gave a dry laugh "Yes you're right! Mine!" Here she cackled in a way eerily like Bellatrix. "After that night I became the girl-who-lived, only known person in history to survive the killing curse." Remus rubbed her back to calm her down. They really didn't need anymore people-balloons. 'People pretty much trip over their feet whenever I introduce myself."

"Not that they need much reason to…" Padfoot muttered to himself, under the strong opinion that she was beautiful enough to make any wizard stammer like a fool. Prongs decided to ignore him.

"That's not the point, If you didn't go with Padfoot, then Moony must have..." here he shot the man a guilty look, which was sadly returned "But the ministry…"

"I tried, and failed."

James nodded, he wasn't expecting anything different anyway. "Then who? My parents? The Longbottoms? Bones? Abbots?"

Holly was surprised at the mention of these people as possible candidates. Sure her paternal grandparents weren't a big surprise, but the families of her classmates? "No… It was on my mother's side, for the protection."

James frowned. If his future wife was Lily then Holly being sent to the muggle side of her family would explain her ignorance for her family holdings. The frown morphed into a scowl as he recalled something he overhead Lily telling her friends about her sister – Petunia Evans. ' _Oh I can't believe it, I barely see her at all and she just shuts me out completely for two months_. Two months _! Must be that boyfriend of hers, oh well, I guess Petunia just wants some alone time_.'

He suddenly grew very concerned for Holly's wellbeing.

Remus knew that they couldn't keep the identity of Holly's mother secret for long, and they've already sworn an oath. Sirius appeared to be thinking along the same lines, and he shrugged in response. With no further need for hesitation, he leaned over to Holly and whispered "I think it'll be fine if they know who your mother was."

"What? But-"

"Don't worry, they've sworn an oath."

Holly was doubtful, but she trusted Remus.

She cleared her throat and braced herself. "Since that night, until this summer actually, I've been living with my aunt and her family. My mother's sister Aunt Petunia, her husband my Uncle Vernon, and their son my cousin Dudley."

"Until this summer?"

"Yes, because… An incident in the ministry managed to clear Sirius of all charges and he filed for my custody immediately. "

"But you've been living with your aunt's family for so long, won't you miss them?"

At this point Holly collapsed into a fit of giggles at the thought of _missing_ her relatives, and laughed even harder imagining it vice versa. So Remus stepped in for her.

"No, uh… They weren't the best guardians for Holly, regardless of the blood wards. As long as we remain here in Gri-" Remus frowned, his sentence was abruptly cut off by an unknown force "Gri- Grimmau-"

But before he could try again, he was instantly alarmed when he felt a wand poke into the back of his neck and a familiar voice "Before you try again, would anyone present like to explain this most peculiar situation to me?

* * *

 **I hope you are pleased with this chapter, this was the really tricky part to write when I first got the idea and made me avoid posting the first chapter for months.**

 **Anyone want to take a guess as to who has arrived?**

 **Do leave a review with your thoughts, the more I receive the more motivated I am to write.**

 **Thank you! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello and sorry for the long wait. School returned with all its chaos.**

 **This was quite a hard chapter to write because I've got the main plot of the story figured out, but just need to fill in the rest. This is part of the _rest_. I wanted to just get it done and over with because I want to upload the Christmas chapter by Christmas, which isn't that far away when you count it in updating days. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading, reviewing, following and favourting this story! You flood my inbox with motivation! :)**

 **Lastly, yes, it's Dumbledore :D**

* * *

 **DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling whom I would never steal anything from.**

* * *

Chapter 5

 **Talks and Tears**

The Headmaster of Hogwarts was reading over some paperwork for his school (at the insistence of his deputy - _Oh Minerva_ ) and sucking on lemon sherbets when he suddenly felt a prickle of magical energy. He blamed it on his hand, thought no more of it and returned to his paperwork.

However, a few seconds later his good hand dropped the piece of parchment which he was reading due to an unknown force, and he felt his wand vibrate with power.

He knew this feeling. Someone was trying to break the fidelius.

The aged wizard apparated directly into number 12 Grimmauld place to find himself in a most peculiar situation. Over his 115 years he had seen a lot of weird things, but this definitely made the top 20. Although that time with Nicholas was really… Never mind.

The past self of a dead friend, the best friend of the aforementioned dead friend and his past self. Oh and definitely can't forget that dead friend's daughter and their other friend whose neck he was pressing his wand into, if they were who they seemed to be.

Albus Dumbledore was a veteran of several wars, and followed regular protocol regarding these situations. "Before you try again, would anyone present like to explain this most peculiar situation to me?"

"Albus!" "Professor Dumbledore!" Shocked exclamations from members of the order - or imposters – protested his actions. Strange, they should know by now safety comes first. If the man he was holding his wand point to is truly Remus Lupin then no one will be harmed, right?

"Name?" It wasn't a question.

"Remus Lupin."

"What is the purpose of the willow?"

"To protect the other students, from me." Albus let go of him, for he was sure that this man was the one and only Remus Lupin. Only that poor lad would blame himself in such a pitying manner.

"Never forget that it was for your own safety Remus. If you turned a student then I could not have-"

"Could not have been any help against the ministry. I know Albus, you've told me so many times over the years."

"Good. Lemon drop?"

It was infuriating how quickly the old man could change his mood. "No thanks."

"Really? Well, I'll have one. I need some sweetness after all that bitterness, so early in the morning." Popping the candy into his mouth, Albus Dumbledore looked at the other people present in the room. "Good morning Miss Potter, Sirius.

"Good morning Professor." An enthusiastic reply and eager smile from his favourite student.

"Morning." A less enthusiastic reply. Sirius was never a morning person anyway, he learnt it the hard way 20 something years ago when the marauders played that troublesome - but very amusing - prank on the school which made it... Oh Merlin, why so wistful today.

"And it appears that also with us today, are Misters Potter and Black. What a lovely surprise."

"Morning Professor."

* * *

It was weird, James thought, to come 20 years into the future, expecting to see himself as a heroic auror and married to Lily with two or three kids. Instead, he got his world turned upside down.

Dead in his prime.

Orphaned daughter

Same Dark Lord terrorizing the wizarding community.

But on the other hand, it was almost comforting to see his eccentric headmaster. His hair was whiter, more wrinkles had made their way to his face, and he was still sucking on those damned lemon drops.

"May I ask how you two came to be here?"

"His fault" James pointed at Padfoot and vice versa.

Dumbledore's twinkling eyes suddenly produced a tear. Wiping it away, he said "It's been many years since I saw that. Strange to say that I find myself missing these fond gestures of friendship." Looking back at the others, he said "Sirius and Remus, if I could have a word with you two" noticing Holly advancing closer " _privately_." Holly slumped back.

The adults moved to another room and left Holly with the boys. It was awkward silence for a few minutes before "Oh Merlin, my hair." And the girl with Potter hair rushed off to fix it up.

"Prongs, you two have the same hair."

"Speak for yourself fleabag."

Half an hour had gone by, and it seemed the adults were still talking. Holly had gone to the library ages ago, and James decided that he would do the same. Padfoot was having none of it.

"The library? We travel 20 years into the future and you want to go to the library." Crazy.

"It's not just a library. It's the Black family library and-"

"Not really, the main library is at the principle house with Grandfather. I mean, it's at Black Hall." Have to remember that all other Blacks are dead now.

"Either way, I want to do some research."

"Research? What the heck is wrong with you Prongs? I didn't know your head was hit so hard when we landed."

"This is not the time for jokes." They're marauders, they're always joking.

"But what about the adventure." Padfoot was moaning now.

"You tell me, how this adventure has been so far." Padfoot blinked at his best friend, why was he speaking in such a cold voice. "Because from my point of view, it's not very _fun_."

"Prongs…"

"Dead, within a decade. Orphaned child, who was raised by ignorant muggle relatives. Best friends, one locked in prison for 12 years"

"I was cleared." James ignored him.

"Another, a traitor. And Moony, I don't even want to think about it." They already knew the kind of life Moony would be living as soon as they found out about his furry little problem, but they always thought they could support him through the years. James and Padfoot would use their family influences to help him. If that didn't work, give him enough gold to last for at least a lifetime without having to work for a day in his life. It was a good plan.

"Maybe we can change that." A good plan, that's what they needed. They always had great plans.

"How? We can't reveal anything because we swore an oath, remember?"

"We could just use me as secret keeper. Or let Wormtail have a little accident. Or…"

"I could forget all about Evans."

"What?"

"The prophecy is about Holly, and she is the daughter between Lily and me. If I stop chasing after her, maybe…"

"Prongs…" James Potter had been smitten with Lily Evans since day one. He would never admit it, but Padfoot knew there was an attraction between them the moment they entered that train compartment. Whether it was the tricks he played on her in the early years, or his never ending requests for a date from third year, or his improved effort in school work from fifth year, it was there.

"I'm going to the library." Padfoot didn't try to stop him.

* * *

As Dumbledore sat down behind a desk that belonged to Orion Black, Sirius Black experienced a feeling of nostalgia.

How many times had he stood there, before that desk, listening to his father's lectures? And how many times has he stood before Dumbledore in his office, trying to cover up another one of his marauder adventures? It was always easier to lie to his father, he's mastered the skill since infanthood. But lying to Dumbledore was much harder. He always felt like those twinkling blue eyes could gaze into his mind and pick out his secrets.

"When you have returned to our world again Sirius please do add your part." Sirius shook himself out of his daydream.

"Sorry what?"

"Remus here tells me that our special guests used a little time travelling spell and so far everything appears to have gone quite well. But apparently you were in the room when they arrived."

"So was Holly." Dumbledore's eyebrows rose slightly, this was definitely an interesting update.

"Then I will speak to her as well, but you first."

"Well uh. First, there was a flash of bright, really bright light, it was blinding. We couldn't really see anything for a while after that. Then we just saw them there, lying on the ground, like they tripped over each other or something, but then they woke up and was just really…"

"Really what Sirius? What were they?"

"Annoyed, and… pleased."

"About what?"

"I don't know. They were probably annoyed about falling over, and pleased about successfully casting the spell?" It seemed reasonable, time travelling magic was some tricky business and Sirius had damn good reason to be pleased if he accomplished that. "After I made sure they were who they claimed to be Holly went to fetch Remus and after a quick discussion everyone went to bed."

Remus decided to take over, he could tell that Sirius was having trouble remembering those events. His memory was healing but alcohol has its ways of delaying the process, he really shouldn't have drank so much. "So this morning we gave them a brief rundown of current events, after they swore a secrecy vow."

"I would assume that's how the Fidelius was triggered."

"The Fidelius was triggered!?" Sirius was still very sensitive about the security of the Fidelius charm.

"Oh of course, that's why I couldn't say it."

"Which is also why I came so quickly. Sorry about earlier Remus."

"All good, we have to be cautious in these times." Remus was always the wise one.

"Now that that's sorted, what plans do you have for them?"

"Plans?"

"Yes of course, you can't just keep them cooped up in this dreary house."

"Why not?" 'You didn't have anything against that last year when I kept begging you to let me out' was left unsaid but understood by everyone.

"Sirius, those boys came 20 years into the future. They came to see and learn, not live under house arrest."

"Well we don't want to keep them here, but we sort of don't have any choice do we. With the death eaters on the loose." and after Holly.

They would think James was Holly in disguise, oh the irony, and Bellatrix wouldn't hesitate for a moment to send Sirius to an early grave, both him and his past self. Time paradox much.

"Even if they don't leave this house, they'll have to spend Christmas with us." Which was the day after tomorrow. "Should we let Molly know?" Smart Remus, very smart, but-

"No." Sirius was quick to shoot down any suggestions of having the Weasley matriarch over for Christmas. She's a good woman and a great mother, no doubt about that. But there was just something about her attitude towards him that he's sure would not be resolved anytime soon, especially not if she finds out about this.

Dumbledore sensed there was a rough patch between Sirius and Mrs Weasley, and decided to change the subject before anger could grow. "Perhaps they could come to Hogwarts, polyjuiced of course."

"Better make sure that polyjuice lasts, Snape will have a stroke if he sees who they are."

"Yes, thank you for reminding me Sirius. I am sure Severus has a stash of unused polyjuice potion stored somewhere. Now if you'll excuse me gentleman, I have some urgent business to return to."

"But the order, what do we tell them? If we tell them at all."

"I shall inform the necessary members. Alastor will only hear it from me. Also, be prepared for a visit from him in the next few days, he'll need to see it to believe it. Other than that, you can simply tell the members whom you choose to trust with such information. But keep an eye on them won't you. They are so very young and energetically foolish at this age." Sirius chose to take that as a compliment.

"We will, thanks for coming Dumbledore," said Remus as he opened the door.

"Bye."

With a smile and a twinkle, the headmaster saw himself out.

"Well that could have been worse." Sirius took the seat which Dumbledore recently vacated and promptly placed his feet on his father's desk. He then looked up to see Remus giving him an intense glare. "What?"

"Don't drink so much." With that, he also left.

"Old man, telling me how to live my life. Merlin's balls, everyone who tells me how to live my life has been in this room..." and Sirius dozed off. The strain on thinking about memories was too exhausting. It wasn't always so bad, but potions can only do so much for the effects of alcohol.

* * *

Holly was finally able to return to the book which she had neglected the night before. It was an interesting book and contained centuries of useful information. _No wonder Malfoy was so offended…_ was one of the many thoughts in response to the text.

"What _must_ be done and what _must **never**_ be done in a proper Wizarding society. Ugh, my mother made me read that." Holly looked up to see the form of the younger Sirius Black. "By the way, have you seen James? He said he would be in the library."

"He was, you just missed him."

"Oh bollocks." Padfoot had hoped to get this over with in a quiet place where it was unlikely for anyone to overhear them.

"Did you two have a fight?" Holly lived with her cousin long enough to know the signs when boys had a disagreement.

"No!" definitely a disagreement.

"He was quite depressed."

"What would you know about how he feels?" He looked at her, and was amazed again at her startling resemblance to her father.

"I'm his daughter." We can see that loud and clear, the only evident trait not Potter about you are those beautiful, dazzling eyes.

"And I'm his best friend, I've known him for way longer." Padfoot suddenly realised his mistake. "I mean, we've been friends for 6 years now, but we've met before at family gatherings as children. And you only met us last night…" It was useless, the call for waterworks had been issued.

"Whether it is one day or one year more than a decade ago, you've always known him longer. Thanks for reinforcing that."

"Holly, I'm sorry. All this isn't exactly easy…" Keeping a lid on his instinct to flirt with pretty girls aka Holly due to the bro-code wasn't exactly a piece of cake either.

"Yeah? Well if it's not easy for you, how do you think I feel? Having my dead father and godfather-"

"Younger version thank you very much, and this James is alive."

"-dropping out of nowhere into my life" in these terrible times where you might be killed because you two are so foolish and only care about those thrilling adventures. Idiots! Holly shook her head and decided there was no point trying to talk sense into him. "You know what, never mind."

"Where are you going?"

"To my room, so I can read in peace."

"Peace is overrated."

Holly chose to ignore that last comment.

Sirius Black the younger slapped himself in the face, hard. His foolishness caused him to destroy what was probably the start of a great friendship, because friends is as far as they can go. How could he say something like that to this girl who lost her parents for the peace of the wizarding world.

Maybe he was the one who hit his head.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will try to update as fast as I can, now that its the holidays I've finally got time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am very sorry that the promised Christmas chapter did not arrive during Christmas time, but I was totally thrown into the relaxation of the holidays. In other words, I've been lazy and lacking motivation, but I did get the rare moment where I got the idea and finally produced this chapter.**

 **If you are still reading this story: thank you so much!**

 **Furthermore, a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited, and followed this story. Each of those notification emails give me a bit of motivation and puts a big smile on my face. So I end up grinning like a fool.**

 **and now, on with the chapter!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does, but I sure wish I do.**

* * *

Chapter 6: **To forgive and forget**

 _When greeting the heir of a major house, it is vital to ensure that..._

"Oh uh, hi Holly." Holly stopped reading and looked up to see what appeared to be James Potter, a nervous James Potter. He was currently the perfect epitome of a deer caught in the headlights. "I thought I might come down to the library to take a look, but you're here, so I'll go."

"No! Stay, there's plenty of room." No time better than now to have some father-daughter bonding time right? She was 15 years too late and him four years too early, but no one's complaining.

"If that's fine with you." James scanned the room quickly sat himself on a chair besides a painting depicting what appeared to be a group of young witches in the late 19th century. Their backs were facing him and the painting produced no sound but by the looks of it they were having fun. They were portrayed dancing in a circle under the bright sunshine, enjoying the cloudless skies and spring flowers. James almost began to feel envious of those girls as they enjoyed eternal happiness while he suffered.

Holly watched his actions with a critical gaze, and shared the same feelings as her gaze landed on the painting. "How happy they must be, to be able to idle around forever, never having to worry about anything."

"How boring it must be you mean? I guess it would be nice for a day, but forever? I'll rather drink one of Padfoot's potions." Holly giggled. "You think that's funny? Well you're lucky since you're not his partner in potions." Holly could imagine how disastrous that would've been, and her giggles became full blown laughter. James liked the sound of her laughs, and so he kept talking. "Although I'm not always his partner, and we take turns partnering Moony. I need potions to be an auror." A selfish thought struck him. "Do I become an auror?"

Holly stopped laughing and wondered about the father whom she knew so little about from personal experience, and thought of all the stories Sirius told her over the summer. "Yes, I think you do. The ministry was running short of aurors at the time,with Voldemort and his minions putting at least 10 out of work each week. Eventually Mad-Eye Moody told those old sods that if they wanted to keep their heads then they better start increasing the aurors, fast. So they hired anyone that could hold a decent duel, those who could hold it against Moody for at least a minute were permanently hired."

"I was able to duel Moody for a full minute!?"

"Uh I don't know. Apparently you were hired after you faced off Voldemort and came out alive." The first time he defied him.

"Still impressive, and what about Sirius?"

"Hired after beating the Lestranges, three on one. Although they were a little reluctant since he was a Black." Damned Ministry bigots.

James couldn't keep the grin off his face, Sirius and him would become heroes in the future, despite the tragic fate that awaited them. His life was great. Short, but great. He had to go find Padfoot and apologise, he really was a prick to him earlier.

"Thanks Prongslette!" With that, he ran off and prepared to grovel.

' _Prongslette.'_ The word echoed throughout her mind, digging up long forgotten memories. Holly wondered if her father had also given her that nickname when she was a baby. Not many memories from her infanthood survived, if any. The only clear memory she had was the night on which she became an orphan, thanks to the dementors.

Sirius never called her Prongslette. Although he did call her Bambi a few times after he re-watched the muggle movie. (The first time was with the rest of his partners in crime and Lily, who found James' transformation most amusing.) When she asked him for a marauder nickname he only smirked and told her that she must earn it herself by becoming an animagus. Remus had rolled his eyes and talked to some portrait (who did not give a shit and pretended to be asleep throughout the entire conversation) about all the additional danger that would entail.

With that thought, she sent a silent prayer to the higher powers praying for peace for the next few moments so she could finish the chapter, only to have Padfoot come in and ruin her good mood very soon.

* * *

Severus Snape was overseeing the brewing of his potions when the floo lit up in his fireplace, he ignored it.

"Severus, I require your immediate presence in my office." Snape rolled his eyes, the potion was currently in a volatile state and needed constant surveillance. Dumbledore could wait, if it was really so urgent he could have sent a patronus or flooed in himself.

He carefully transferred the contents in the simmering cauldron to a flask with steady hands. If spilt an explosion could occur. He suddenly remembered his classes with Longbottom, who could transform the safest potions into dangerous hazards. Was that idiot boy incapable of reading? He did the exact opposite of almost every instruction given, and on the odd day when he did survive potions without an incident, all credit had to be given to Granger.

Severus huffed and thought with reluctant gratitude that the boy was at least a better student in Defence than potions. No doubt thanks to Potter and her little anti-Umbridge group.

Potter.

With the dangerous potion safely contained, Severus allowed his thoughts to wonder as he made his way through the dungeons and up to the Headmaster's office.

The girl was no doubt having a lively time with her Gryffindor dog-father and wolf-uncle. Not to mention the nauseating clan of Weasleys. He sneered as he thought about the youngest Weasley son, who despised him and was despised by Snape in return. He had thought that Ronald Weasley would have his eyes set on the-girl-who-lived, but apparently not. If the gossip he overheard from Minerva and Pomona was true, Ronald was wasting himself with Brown, which apparently left Granger in great despair. Who would've thought that such an intelligent girl like Hermione Granger would fall for that dunderhead.

 _Lily did_

Severus stopped his thoughts right there, cleared his mind and threw up his occlumency shields.

* * *

"Polyjuice potion?" Dumbledore asked him to come all this way just to request some polyjuice potion? What was the old man up to now?

"Yes Severus, I require a two batches of Polyjuice potion, if you'll please," replied Dumbledore with his ever present twinkle.

"Will I know why?" He had just finished brewing a new batch in the morning, and would rather not part with such a fresh and dangerous potion so soon without good reason.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and linked his hands under his chin, keeping a steady gaze, he said "Perhaps, it all depends on your cooperation."

Severus sat back and scowled, he hated playing these games. "I'll have them prepared for you by lunchtime."

"Thank you Severus, I knew I could count on you." Snape got up and already had his hand on the doorknob when Dumbledore spoke again. "Also, I must ask you to stay away from the headquarters for a while, no surprise visits."

Snape paused "Now why would I want to do that" and the door banged shut behind him.

Dumbledore sighed, a surprise visit was no doubt on the potion master's mind now that he mentioned it. He just hoped it would be after lunch so the time travellers will have time to take the potion.

* * *

Grimmauld Place was an old house, and some parts of the house had sharp corners which only allowed one person to get through at a time. A fact which James and Padfoot soon learnt (and relearnt) when they remade their acquaintance with the floor in less than 24 hours.

"Ouch ouch ouch, my head." James rubbed his head, which didn't help his hair much.

"Fuck your head, if you ruined my face, your head will be the last thing you worry about." Cried Padfoot as he clutched at his nose.

"Oh bloody hell… Let me see…. Hey, nothing's broken you drama queen."

"You better hope not. Head all good?" Padfoot was only a little worried, he came to apologize, better start being nice.

"Yeah, just needed a little rub. You ok?" James wasn't worried at all, but he should be more sensitive to Padfoot's feelings in this place.

"All good." Silence filled the air. "So, we good?"

James felt relieved, this was easier than he expected. "When weren't we?" he put his arm around Padfoot's shoulders, and the action was returned.

Padfoot wondered if he would be shown the same mercy from James and his future self when he takes a kiss from Holly.

* * *

The potions master handed the vials over to Dumbledore with great reluctance and suspicion.

Dumbledore saw his sour face and tried to lighten the mood "What's the matter, don't you trust me?"

"I trust you." He should've stopped there, maybe that would've prevented the headache that hit him for the next few days. "I would trust you enough to turn _my back_ on you in a fight, I _still trust_ you even after you failed me. However, I have good reason to not _fully_ trust you when you suddenly ask me for some polyjuice potion without an explanation." The rant caught Severus unaware "forgive me headmaster, it's just been really stressful lately." He finished warily.

"No Severus it is I who should ask for your forgiveness, I have placed a heavy burden upon your young shoulders for too long, perhaps it will be lifted soon, we'll see." After a moment's hesitation, he continued. "I will also confide to you the reason for my request, am I forgiven?"

Snape's dark eyes glittered with curiosity "You do not need forgiveness, you have done nothing wrong."

"I'm very pleased to hear that. Well then, I'll talk to you after I return."

Snape uttered a farewell, looked at the vials, told the Headmaster to "use them well" and returned to his potions.

The Headmaster had arrived at Grimmauld place just in time to see the merry group finishing up their lunch and managed to take the last treacle tart, much to his favourite student's displeasure. As he wiped his hands he reached into his robes and pulled out two flasks and handed them to Remus." I have already done you the favour of finding hair from two muggle boys for the potions." He turned to the two young men stuffing their faces with desert. "Just remember to take it before you go and keep taking it at regular intervals, I recommend 40 or 50 minutes."

"Thank you Albus, I hope it wasn't too difficult?"

"Oh no trouble at all. Severus was quite happy to help-"

"Happy my ass" from Sirius.

"And it's also a great honour for me to invite two very special time travellers." He smiled at the boys.

After swallowing the second last treacle tart, James replied, "thank you Sir, we appreciate it." he looked forward to spending Christmas with his future daughter.

"Yeah, I'm so happy I won't even mind drinking Polyjuice." Padfoot was happy for another reason, he schemed to be stuck under a Mistletoe with Holly and share a kiss with her.

"You're very welcome boys. Ah, and before I forget, you might want to keep the potion close to you, in case a member of the order drops in."

"Will do, don't worry Albus."

With one last reassuring smile, Dumbledore apparated.

"Well, now that's sorted." Everyone turned to look at Padfoot, who had the aura of one completely at ease. "Take some polyjuice and play the prank of the decade on old Snivellus, what do you think Prongs?"

"Padfoot…"

"He won't even have a clue, we'll be Dumbledore's _honoured_ guests."

"We'll be going as muggle boys."

"Don't be stupid antler-head, muggles can't see Hogwarts. We'll obviously need a cover as some distant relative. Right?" Remus gave the young prankster a confirming nod. "See, piece of cake. It'll be legendary!"

"I like the way I think." Sirius laughed into his cup of pumpkin juice.

"That's a terrible idea." Everyone had been so amused with the idea of pranking Snape that they didn't realise Holly was silent throughout the entire conversation, until now. "How cruel, to use his own potions against him." Holly raised her head and her guardians were startled to see watery eyes.

Padfoot, not realising the thin ice he was on, kept his stupid mouth talking. "Come on Holly, it's just stinky Slytherin Snape. Don't tell me he washes his hair now. Besides, why care so much for him? I bet he's so- Hey where're you going?" At last, he noticed her changed mood.

"Back to my room." And she left without another word.

"Well, that was weird." Padfoot remarked nonchalantly.

"Shut up you idiot." Emphasised with a kick to the shin from his best friend.

"Ouch! Why are you mad at me again?"

"You made her cry."

"I did?" Padfoot blinked innocently. "How?"

Remus decided to help. "Holly has a… _strange_ relationship with Severus."

"Relationship?" repeated Sirius with suspicion and his past self with disgust.

"Oh get your mind out of the gutter Sirius, I meant a teacher-student relationship. Every teacher is fond of Holly except for Severus, no doubt because of..." James felt all eyes fall on him and shifted uncomfortably. "Anyway, they managed to work past their differences last year when she had to learn occlumency, under the surprisingly successful tutelage of Professor Snape." Sirius rolled his eyes at 'successful', remembering all the nights she complained to him through the enchanted mirror about her terrible occlumency lessons. "After the ministry incident, they haven't really been at each other's throats as usual, and since Holly is so strong in defence, it is very difficult for Snape to criticise her in her best class."

"No doubt thanks to you teaching her in third year." Sirius told a slightly blushing Remus.

"Thank you Sirius. Now, as I was saying. Since Snape finds difficulty in criticising her non-existent mistakes, he relishes in challenging her skills."

"Nasty git." Padfoot couldn't believe she tried to defend that horrible man.

"Actually, Holly enjoys the challenge."

"She does?"

"Yes, she knows the burden that's been placed on her and knows that she must have as much experience as possible in Defence Against the Dark Arts before facing Voldemort, and who better to teach her than the man who has experience with the Dark Arts and Voldemort himself"

Everyone fell silent at the reminder of the danger that Holly was destined to face.

"Thanks for clearing that up, but I still don't see why I made her cry." Sirius and Remus shared a look. "What?" Padfoot could feel secrets everywhere.

"Let's just say, she accidentally viewed one of Snape's less favourable memories in a pensieve..."

"She saw him wetting his bed and now she feels sorry for him?" James and Sirius both choked back a laugh when they saw the stern look Remus was giving them.

"Where her father and his friends are portrayed in a very unkind way." Still clueless. "She saw what you two did to him that day in fifth year, after OWLS."

James' eyes widened with understanding, and regret.

"Oh that." Padfoot looked down, slightly contrite. "We're not always like that, it was only because of what he called Evans. Surely Holly understands."

"We can only hope." Sirius added dryly.

"Now, about tomorrow…" Everyone listened attentively to Remus as he outlined the plan for their Christmas trip to Hogwarts.

James and Padfoot listened carefully to each word. They were both very eager to see what the beloved castle would be like 20 years into the future, although they didn't expect many changes. The difference in staff would be the most obvious, but Dumbledore was still there, and so was McGonagall, and apparently the same applied to Slughorn. They looked forward to playing pranks with Peeves on Filch's cat. Would it be a different cat? Probably not. They definitely had to see the chamber of secrets-

 _Oh Regulus would be so jealous_ Padfoot thought silently with much glee.

-and the room of requirement. James decided Lily would be very impressed with that room. Perhaps it could turn into her bedroom from home, and ease her homesickness. Maybe that act of kindness will finally persuade her to go out on a date with him.

There would of course, be lots of mistletoe hanging here and there, out of sight. Many of which Padfoot planned to find (if now throw up a few himself) and lure Holly under. Quite a few of his Christmas dates had started in that fashion.

Yes, it was a good plan.

-Eat

-Explore

-Prank Snape and Filch's cat

-Explore a bit more

-Kiss Holly

Perfect!

Now only to find a way to make sure Sirius doesn't find out.

 **TBC**

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! :D**

 **Snape has finally joined the story. Whether you love or hate him, it was unavoidable.**

 **Please leave a review :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok, believe it or not I really am sorry about this massive delay, but with lack of motivation and time I think this is pretty good. Don't worry, I'll never abandon this story, take a long time to update maybe but abandoning it is not in my plan.**

 **On the other hand, writing about Christmas in the middle of the year is a bit weird, considering that I originally planned to upload this chapter back in December. *cringe* Look at the time now, this just proves that my life is a mess. Christmas in July perhaps? It is winter for me now. :D**

 **Anyway I hope you forgive me and enjoy :)**

* * *

 **I own nothing.**

 **Harry Potter belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling and 'Santa Clause is coming to town' belongs to somebody, I'm not sure who, but definitely not me since I'm clearly not a millionaire.**

* * *

Chapter 7 **Christmas Chaos**

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you as well."

As Holly walked down the stairs, she saw as well as heard all the activity and celebration that would be expected on the morning of the 25th December. Christmas decorations had been hung up on every corner of the room. Even the portraits of the ancestors had the occasional bauble hanging off the edge of the frame, although the scowls on their faces delivered the opposite message to the festive season.

Music was playing and the bells were charmed to make beautiful tinkling sounds that worked beautifully with the tune, which to her surprise, was a muggle song.

' _You better watch out'_

' _You better not cry'_

' _Better not pout'_

' _I'm telling you why'_

' _Santa Clause is coming to town'_

The song was catchy and remained one of her favourite Christmas carols, because she always saw the irony in with the song when it came to Dudley. Who would cry and pout the most two occasions a year, both being times when large amounts of presents were expected.

Everyone was gathered in the next room, so she decided to take a moment and appreciate the scene. It was obviously Sirius' idea, to put up muggle decorations in the most anti-muggle place in London. She smiled. Her godfather must be under a lot of stress right now with their unexpected but not unwelcome guests. The more the merrier, right? She decided to make an effort to be of more help, it didn't mean that she would follow his every word, but the effort surely counts for something.

Remus came out of the next room and his stress-lined face softened when he saw her, still dressed in the Gryffindor coloured pyjamas Sirius had bought her for her 16th birthday. "Holly, come and open your presents."

"Just a moment." Humming the tune, she walked with Remus and was stunned when she set her eyes on the Christmas tree.

It was magnificent, almost on par with the Christmas trees at Hogwarts which were Hagrid's pride and joy. It was at least twice Ron's height and the diameter at the bottom was surely the same size as King Arthur's round table. Needless to say, it almost took up the entire room.

"Well Bambi, what do you think?" Sirius stood beside it, looking very proud of himself.

"You made it?"

"Yes, well no. Not exactly. We wanted to give you a special Christmas so we went to one of those muggle shopping centaurs-'"

"Shopping centres"

"Yes those, and we bought a tree, but it was so small and all the spells Remus learnt in Herbology didn't work."

"Spells?"

"Well yes, we wanted it to grow a bit bigger than the size it was, as big as the ones in Hogwarts. You like those don't you?"

"I do, but Sirius,' Holly took a closer look at the tree 'this is fake, muggles make fake Christmas trees."

"Yes we realised that… This morning. So I threw an _engorgio_ at it and this happened!" Here he waved dramatically at the giant tree with great enthusiasm. Holly thought that if he was in his animagus form right now then his tail would be wagging like crazy.

She couldn't help herself, she laughed, and her laughter was infectious, soon Sirius joined in with his deep rumble and it didn't take long for the others to join in.

Padfoot, who hadn't spoken a word to Holly yet, not since their argument last night, couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was when she laughed.

The laughter was genuine and came from deep within her, and shook her whole body. If he couldn't hear her then he would've thought that she was crying, thank Merlin he wasn't and double that because hearing her laughter was divine. He mentally slapped himself for those sappy thoughts. Her eyes were closed and every time she opened them to look at Sirius she would burst into uncontrollable mirth all over again, was it really that funny?

'Yes, it is.' She stopped laughing to speak to him. Oh dear lord did he actually say that out loud?

'Alright, let's get the presents over with so we can prepare to go to Hogwarts!' James was excited to leave, but Padfoot thought that this was the perfect moment.

Holly's lips twitched but she turned to the presents, and soon the room was filled with the sound of paper ripping and delighted laughter. A scene which Padfoot would treasure for all eternity.

* * *

Snape slammed the door behind him as he left. The nerve of that old man, to do something so stupid. There were ten thousand variables that could go wrong within the first hour alone based on one of the individuals he was currently thinking about angrily. Add Miss Potter to anything and it's sure to be a code red disaster and her years at Hogwarts only proved that.

Severus strode through the halls, carefully avoiding the mistletoes that were still untouched, his moody aura kept all the ghosts from wishing him season's greetings, of which he was very glad. He was in no mood to be merry.

Draco would be here as well. That could cause problems. Hopefully the boy knew what was best for them both and stayed away from the girl whom his master wanted dead. Knowing his luck so far, that wouldn't happen. Cursing under his breath, he quickened his stride to his office.

* * *

Sirius fiddled with the portkey, it was some old muggle trinket, no doubt a donation given to Dumbledore by Arthur Weasley, who was obsessed with all things muggle. He looked up at the sound of footsteps to see Remus and Holly. She was wearing her new hand-knitted sweater with a large golden snitch worked on to the front, made by the perfect Molly Weasley of course, the woman who was very disgruntled last night when she learned that Sirius had changed his Christmas plans.

'Are the boys ready?'

He was answered by thumps coming down the stairs. Mercifully, the old hag's portrait continued to snore.

When he looked at their polyjuiced forms, he sent a silent thanks to Dumbledore for his selection.

One of them had short blond that seemed to shine every time he moved, he must've used the brush of the angels. Sirius thought that the cornflower blue eyes and dazzling white smile that went along with the pretty face would've seduced any girl he wanted. Next to him was a boy with curly brown hair and dark eyes. His physique suggested that the owner of the hair was an excellent athlete.

'What do you think Prongslette?' Sirius blinked at the blond guy. What nerve! To give his little goddaughter a marauder nickname before he did. 'Obviously I look hot with blond and black hair. Perhaps I should make my hair permanently blond.'

The athlete snorted. 'Not unless you wanna be a Malfoy.'

Padfoot scrunched up his nose, an action which still appeared quite handsome. 'I'll kiss and hug my mother before I become a Malfoy.'

Thoughts of being so kind to Walburga Black made everyone shudder.

Holly eyed the portkey in Sirius' hand. She remained wary of portkeys ever since the Tri-wizard tournament but she trusted that Dumbledore and her dearest godfather would never deliver her to Voldemort as a Christmas present. 'When can we leave?'

'Now if you want, its code activated.' Holly nodded her agreement. 'Great, gather round everyone. Next stop, Hogwarts!'

Everyone made sure they were either holding or touching the old muggle necklace which Dumbledore had chosen as the portkey for this historical occasion, Sirius murmured the password and Holly tried not to be sick as the sensations began.

James and Padfoot were so excited when they arrived, they completely ignored the headmaster's welcome and safety precautions and instantly began memorising Hogwarts 20 years into the future. The headmaster's office honestly wasn't that different, the amount of trinkets seemed to increase and the layer of dust on some ancient tome in the corner seemed to be a bit thicker as well. But other than that, nothing truly noteworthy.

They went down the spiral stairs and walked the familiar path to the great hall, which had thankfully been cleared of mistletoes (much to Padfoot's dismay).

The Christmas feast at Hogwarts never failed to disappoint. The Great hall was covered in decorations. Christmas trees (just a bit bigger than the one they had at Grimmauld Place) were placed in every corner. The tinsel on the wall was charmed to turn into different shapes, and the tinsel shapes occasionally turned into humans and would play with the wreaths that had been placed just above them. When one of the shapes turned into an arrow, it directed Holly's attention to the table, and the sight never failed to knock her breath away.

Roast turkeys, boiled potatoes, platters of fat chipolatas, tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce covered every feet of the table. Not to mention the wizard crackers that had been squeezed between the dishes.

She eagerly grabbed one and turned to Padfoot, who flashed her a dazzling smile before pulling and got covered in red and gold sparkles. He took the little gift and gave it to Holly, who gave a laugh of delight and put on the red and gold witch hat.

After another Christmas message from Dumbledore, the guests, several Hogwarts students who stayed behind for the holidays and staff membered tucked into the Christmas feast of 1996. If Holly had known at that time that it would be the last Christmas she would celebrate as a student, she might've taken a longer look around the room.

* * *

Draco was angry, frustrated and annoyed, but most of all he was exhausted, and very hungry. A quick time check told him that the feast would've started now, and not even that muggle-loving Dumbledore could turn a death eater away from his table if the death eater in question was his student.

Having made up his mind to fill his belly for once, he made the long way down. As we entered the room and scanned the faces, he felt two emotions that he hadn't felt in quite a while.

Surprise and lust.

Simply, he was quite surprised to see Potter there. Considering the fact that he saw her leave with the blood traitor and mudblood.. Unless the order was in trouble and Dumbledore wanted to keep a closer eye on her? That was reasonable.

Secondly, Draco was a teenager, and definitely a virile one. Potter was truly growing into her body each time he looked at her and he only had the normal reaction any teenager would have. Even that ugly old sweater, no doubt made by Mrs Weasley, could completely hide what lay beneath.

He smirked, maybe this Christmas wouldn't be as boring as he had thought it would be. "Hello Potter, was your dogfather's place not good enough for you or did you become intimidated by the wards of ancient _purebloods_." She scowled and as per usual ignored him, which only flamed his irrationality. He looked at the two boys next to her, and was once again surprised when he realised that he had never met them before. They were definitely around his age, and to be here at Hogwarts, they must be wizards, but he was certain they didn't go here, he knew everyone in his year level, regardless of whether he liked them or not. There was something very suspicious about those two. But before he couldn't open his mouth again to lash out another taunt, his once-favourite professor came storming in.

* * *

Padfoot wanted to strangle Lucius Malfoy's kid. He wondered if anyone had ever taught him the word 'manners', and then another guy who probably needed some manners himself arrived. All bat-like and grumpy.

Padfoot thought that Snape had aged rather well and must've used the same aging plan as himself. Remus and his future self looked at least twice their age and their faces always had that expression of… fatigue, to put it lightly. As if the antics of the young people were a thing of the past, they were only 36!

He didn't think Snape looked any better than them, but he looked the way you would expect Snape to look. Big nose, greasy hair, skinny frame and that disgusting cloud of potions fumes around the man. When was his last shower? Forget about manners, Severus Snape clearly needed a lesson in hygiene! Oh, and look at that, the bat was going to scream at Malfoy. This ought to be a good show.

"Malfoy!" The two syllables were pushed out with barely controlled anger. "What are you doing here?"

Malfoy simply lifted an eyebrow. Being yelled at by teachers must be routine by now. If the blond ferret wasn't the spawn of Lucius Malfoy and one of the most Slytherin person on earth then James would've inducted him into the marauders on the spot.

"Professor, I came here to enjoy the feast, which is part of my privileges as a student of this school." Cue signature Malfoy smirk.

"Severus, let the boy enjoy the feast. It is Christmas after all." The headmaster had spoken. Draco shot everyone a victorious glance and took a seat directly across from Holly, the scowl she sent him only added the metaphorical cherry on top.

Despite the unexpected guest, it still turned out to be a pleasant meal for everyone as Draco occupied himself with filling his empty stomach and staying out of conversations. A few moments after all the dessert disappeared, Draco wiped his mouth with a Malfoy crested serviette that appeared out of his pocket and left, but not without a last remark to Holly which had her scowling again.

Padfoot couldn't ignore this weird exchange between the two and nudged her "What did he say?"

She only shook her head as a response and returned to her pudding.

* * *

Severus watched this entire interaction with a scowl that had been permanently carved onto his face the moment those idiotic Gryffindors arrived. He always knew Potter and Black were troublemakers and at times had no qualms about endangering lives for their stupid fun. But this? This was beyond childish stupidity and teenage troubles. If something happened to either one of them in the future that would render them unable to return, who knows how that might change history as they know it. No wonder time travel was such a forbidden topic in magic research.

His dark eyes followed their movements as the three teenagers, one from the present and two from the past, left the table not long after devouring their dessert. Needless to say, he followed them at a safe distance, just to be cautious. Since he had learned long ago that where Gryffindors go, trouble follows.

 **TBC**

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this, I admit that I really enjoyed writing Snape's parts. It's fun to add some anger.**

 **Draco has joined the story. One of the major reasons I love writing HP fan fiction is that there is such a big variety of cannon characters to choose from before introducing an OC.**

 **Anyway, hopefully I can update again soon, fingers crossed.**

 **Until next time, bye! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the wait but at least I have the chapter here and at least half of the Christmas chapter on Christmas!**

 **Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Hope that updates will be better in 2017 xx**

 **Enjoy :)**

* * *

 **Queen Jo owns Harry Potter, and she has blessed us with so much this year**

* * *

Chapter 8 **Mysterious Times**

Draco walked away from the Great hall with a full stomach and many questions that demanded answering. _Who were those boys_ and _why did Potter seem so familiar with them_ kept flashing to the forefront of his mind. He knew that he couldn't focus on his mission until he got those answers first.

Realizing that he was the only person in the hallway, the schemes came naturally. He could still hear the ghosts celebrating somewhere near, but not too near. At least they were far enough for what he wanted to do.

Casting a disillusionment charm on himself, he quickly retraced his steps to the Great Hall, and was pleased to see Potter and the two visitors exit the hall just as he arrived. He wanted to follow but hesitated, he spent the entire year avoiding Potter just so his secret could be safe, but this opportunity was too good.

Doubts vanished, Draco Malfoy followed the three lions, who were all unaware that there was a snake slithering behind.

* * *

His home, or the only place he would consider to be home, had not changed one bit. That comforted Padfoot a great deal more than he expected. The patriotic red and gold covered every corner of the room, the couches showed years of loving use but not one sign of being worn out, and forgotten belongings were littered around the room, giving it an informal atmosphere which he was never able to feel in the place he grew up. No matter how many Gryffindor decorations he had in his room, it merely seemed to be sheets of paper covering a massive dark mass of evil, so he left it altogether.

Looking over at Holly, it appeared that she felt the same way. There could be no doubt that she had never seen the house of her aunt as a home, and he could not blame her if the same applied to Grimmauld Place.

While James marvelled at how little a room where so many great memories were made could change in 20 years, he plopped himself down next to Holly while she seemed to go through some student's forgotten notebook.

'Oh dear, Neville left his potions homework here, and it's still incomplete. I better owl it to him now.'

'Neville?' What's this tight feeling in his chest, restricting his breathing? There was no reason to have a panic attack here and now.

'Neville Longbottom, one of my friends.'

So he's a Longbottom! Must be Frank's son, they would be around the same age.

'Just your friend?' Oh Merlin why would he ask that, now he sounded like his cousins whenever they found him talking with some girl.

Holly blushed, 'Ye-yeah, just a friend. A really good friend, we went through a lot last year.' Why was she nervous, she had nothing to hide? Then why was it so difficult to meet his eyes when she told him that.

'Would you… consider him as a boyfriend?' His voice suddenly dropped.

'What? Why would you ask me that?'

'Because I also want you to tell me, would you consider me as a boyfriend?' He put on all of his playboy charm. The eyes, smirk and pose, no female could resist him when he was like that.

She simply stared at him, her lips were parted with shock and her cheeks were dusted with embarrassment. Very kissable indeed.

He laughed 'Just kidding.' _That was too close_.

She was so relieved. 'Don't ever do that again! It was so mean.'

'Sorry darling, but I'm a prankster, it's my purpose in life to trick people.' He moved closer to her. 'But since today is Christmas, maybe we could just have a little more trickery…' His face slowly descended upon hers, and just as Holly was about to open her mouth – whether to welcome this advance or protest against it she did not know yet – an unamused voice shattered the mood.

'I'm still here, and underage, so keep it child friendly.'

'James…' he was so close… to getting that long sought after kiss and strangling the living lights out of this moron. Best friend be damned.

He tried to quick smooth things over with Holly but when he turned around, he saw an empty space.

'She left just a moment ago.'

'Oh' _No shit_

'Padfoot, if you try anything, 'James started.

'Yeah I know.'

'Sirius will-'

'I know.' _Will this guy ever shut up?_ He wondered as James' scolding entered one ear and out the other.

'As well as me and Remus,'

'Got it.'

'We will kill you,'

'So much for friends.'

'And no one, not even Moody, will be able to find the body.'

'Harsh.'

'Your ancestors, and perhaps even Salazar Slytherin himself will applaud us and future pureblood sadists will hail us as legends.' _This is a little too far…_

'I thought you were aiming your audience to be amongst Gryffindors.'

'As it happens I find myself quite suited to this protective father mode.'

'More like wanna shag Evans mode.'

'Shut up!'

'Hit the right spot didn't I.' When he only received a strained silence as his response, he decided to continue. 'Well, Jamie my boy, I don't blame you. It is Christmas after all, I do wonder when you'll be able to trap Evans under a mistletoe.'

It was a favourite failure of James' which Sirius constantly liked to remind him of. So far, in six years, James Potter had not even managed to get a peck on the cheek from the virtuous Lily Evans.

James gave one last exasperated shake of his head and left his hopeless idiot of a friend to fate. 'I'm going back to the hall, good luck.'

As he walked back down to the Great Hall, he felt the potion wearing off but chose to not pay any attention to it since the hallways appeared deserted.

* * *

Slowly, other members of the staff excused themselves from the table one by one, until only Sirius, Remus and the Headmaster were the only members remaining. When the last non-order member left the room, Remus cast a charm around them and released his anxiety.

'Albus, how is your hand.'

Always conscious of his great weakness, Dumbledore instinctively tried to shield the blackened hand from view. 'As good as dark magic.' He replied humourlessly.

'Which means he'll probably kick it soon.'

'Sirius!'

'What, it's true, isn't that right Albus.'

'Well, I am an old man. Had I been born a muggle I have no doubt that I would've been dead by now.'

'And it's a great blessing that you are a wizard and on our side, I thanks the Gods for it daily.' With that said Remus raised a goblet of pumpkin juice to his respected mentor and dear friend 'and to you Sirius, for your life-long disobedience towards your family, despite the costs.'

'My pleasure.' Sirius drowned his drink, wishing for something stronger, it's not like mentions of his family made him emotional. He hated them, absolutely hated them all. Every last one of them…

'Thank you Remus, but why speak of it so solemnly? It's Christmas, be more merry!' With that, a new bottle of firewhisky appeared. 'Before the children returns' he winked.

'Now this is what I call celebrating.' said Sirius as he eagerly reached for the bottle.

* * *

 _Where the hell did the little shits go?_ Severus pondered angrily as he stalked down the halls, searching for the black haired lion and her two troublesome companions, while also keeping an eye out for his blond snake.

 _They could be anywhere, if they go into the forest…_ Relations between wizards and centaurs were not at their best, even the chosen one will not receive preferential treatment.

 _Knowing their history, that is exactly what they would do._ Resolve made, he quickened his pace.

It's a good thing that the hallways were empty, because if anyone saw him the way he was at that moment, they would testify that the demons were at his back, considering the dark aura surrounding him.

Turning a corner, he almost collided into one of his targets.

But Snape was not a man to be found unguarded, quickly composing himself, he started shooting questions as if he was in a duel during the peak of the war.

'Mr Malfoy, where do you think you're going?'

'Professor I-'

'These are dangerous times'

'I was only-'

'I think it best that you return to your dormitory'

'It wasn't-'

'And out of everyone's way.' He finalised his command with his best glare, specialised for the young Malfoy. It never failed.

'I will, _Sir._ '

It would appear that not even his favourite student had confidence in him. He waved the feelings of loss aside, the affections of a mere student were insignificant compared to his mission.

After making sure that Draco was indeed heading towards the Slytherin dorm room and not to _that_ room, he continued his search. The boy's dedication was truly commendable but he should at least take a break on Christmas.

* * *

'You drank too much' were the first words that greeted Sirius the next day. He opened his eyes to see a grumpy teenager staring at him with fixed disappointment.

'No I didn't… Ow, did I get punched by a troll?' Rubbing his head, he took the potion offered to him and drowned it in one go. 'You didn't answer my question, was I punched by a troll?' He even had the nerve to smile at her.

A light slap to the head was his response.

'Hurry up, I'll be waiting for you downstairs.'

'Oh not a punch from a troll, but a slap from my own goddaughter, which is the same as a thousand knives to my heart!'

'Shut the fuck up Sirius!' Remus' voice floated up from the kitchen.

'Whatever…'

The rest of the morning passed by uneventfully with Remus and Sirius in another 'adult discussion' which lasted for longer than the three bored teenagers expected.

'What do you think they're discussing?'

'I don't know, but I sure want to know.' Just as Padfoot made the motion to start up some mischief, Holly pulled him back.

'Stop it you two, it's probably another "How to protect Holly" discussion.' She was met with two confused faces.

'Oh well, I guess you guys don't know, but ever since my encounter with Voldy that time at the ministry, the order has stepped up the security around me.'

'So no more surprise dementors?'

'That is the plan.'

'Or surprise adventures?'

'That's what they want.'

'But is it what you want?'

 _Fuck no_ 'I want to live,' a reluctant yet true answer.

'Like this? Locked away in a dark house every day?' Padfoot was not pleased. If they had to lock her up for her safety then that's fine, but why drag his hard work with time travel into it as well.

'It's for my safety…' _What do you think? That I would want to spend the rest of my life locked away in this hellhole instead of having fun with my friends like other ordinary teenagers?_

'Bullshit. What's the point of living if every day is just as dull? I think you're overdue for fun.'

 _It's not I don't agree with you, but-_

'If we're talking about Mr Black's idea of fun, then it must be the very definition of danger for Miss Potter and consequently the best Christmas present the Dark Lord and the death eaters could think of.'

The three jumped at the sound of a new speaker and turned around with surprise.

It was quite entertaining for Severus to witness their mixed reaction.

One of confusion, one of frustration, and one of weariness.

'Professor Snape, why are you here?' After six years of teaching her, he had to admit that there were occasions where she displayed admirable intelligence. However, most of the time, he wondered if all of Lily's genes had gone into those eyes and nothing else, as the girl appeared to have a potato for a brain at times.

Restraining the urge to roll his eyes to the heavens, he patiently replied 'Miss Potter you will recall that I am a member of the Order of the Phoenix and am therefore here for the afternoon meeting.'

'There's an Order meeting today? I had no idea…'

'Perhaps Black finally got some sense knocked into him and decided not to tell children like you about such confidential information.'

'I'm not a child!'

'That's exactly what a child would say when called a child Miss Potter.' He replied wryly, and swept past them while she was still struggling to form a response.

'Damn him, he always gets the last word.'

Not long after Snape entered the room Sirius came out, looked at them apologetically and said 'I think it best if you three stay out of the way today, and don't come down until called.'

'But Sirius-'

'No buts, sorry about this one Bambi, but those two have got everyone on their nerves. Albus sent me a letter earlier saying that when he broke the news Moody almost burst a blood vessel and Molly almost broke all the bones in Arthur's hand squeezing it because she was so shocked. So please, stay in your room, and you two' he glared at the time travellers 'don't do anything, I used to be you, so I know all your secrets.'

The past marauders saluted the former marauder.

Just as promised, the three locked themselves in their rooms. James and Padfoot entertained themselves by planning new pranks while Holly sent a letter to Neville with his forgotten notebook.

'Send this to Neville.' With a hoot, Hedwig took off, and Holly was amused by how well she blended in with the snow covered streets.

Meanwhile, downstairs in a room with many top-level Order members in attendance, Snape decided to do what he does best.

'I'm sure that everyone here knows about our time travelling residents,' nods all around the room with a few glares directed at Sirius, whose attention was interestingly captivated by some insignificant mark on the table, 'well, the Dark Lord knows about it too.'

3

2

1

The smiles on some faces couldn't drop faster, especially that damned twinkle.

Snape smirked in satisfaction.

 **TBC**

* * *

Thank you for reading!

If you just joined, thank you for checking out my story and if you've been here since the beginning or from one of the previous chapters, thank you for the terribly long wait. I am trying to give faster updates, but writer's block can be terrible and I don't want to give you guys chapters with rubbish quality.

See you guys in 2017! :D


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, back again and here's your new chapter! Thank you for (still) reading up to this chapter and I am _truly_ sorry for the wait. **

**ENJOY!**

 **Disclaimer: J.K. ROWLING TOTALLY OWNS HP.** if i did i'd be super rich by now

* * *

 **Chapter 9 Mysterious Times II**

As expected, everyone spiralled down into a mad frenzy of worried chatter while Severus sat back and watched the show. It became too noisy to actually listen in on any of the conversation being thrown around but the general idea was understood.

'What if you-know-who finds them?'

'They'll be hurt!'

'Why wasn't something done to prevent this from happening?'

'If they die then how will that affect the future?'

'Oh shut up, you know that if they stuffed this up then we wouldn't even be here in the first place.'

'What do you mean by that Mad-eye? Why wouldn't they end up killing themselves and end up changing time and history?'

'Hey I'm sitting right here.' For once Sirius Black was the voice of reason, but idiots are deaf to reason.

'Professor Dumbledore, could you please explain how this has been allowed to happen, under _your_ watch.'

'If they die now then what will happen to Holly?'

'Like I said, I'm sitting right here-'

'Shut up Sirius.'

'What the fuck why? Isn't this discussion about me?'

'It's about _you_ but not the _**you**_ now.'

'Stop that it's giving me a headache.'

Eventually, Snape realised that the room had been divided into two sections. The section with the people whom he could tolerate since at least half of their brains were clearly functioning. This side agreed that although this time travelling business is very dangerous in their current situation, everything will be fine because James Potter must have returned to the past to have - _dear Merlin he feels sick_ \- a child with Lily Evans and thus Holly is upstairs safe and sound, at least they hope she is. Not to mention Sirius Black was also sitting in front of them all alive and whole – _because Severus was doomed to a life of disappointment_ \- at least he appeared to be.

The other side, Severus concluded, were a bunch of brainless fools whom the order was wasted upon. No matter how many rational arguments were put against them, they just couldn't wrap their minds around the idea that James Potter must have returned to the past because his 16 year old daughter is obviously in existence.

Everyone simply turned a blind eye to Black.

Having decided that enough of his time had been wasted, he brought up the main problem. Silently casting a small _sonorous_ charm– he only needed to be heard above this squabble not all of London – he spoke and silenced the room as if they were a bunch of first years. That always worked. 'Now that the Dark Lord knows of our situation, how will we respond?'

'Obviously we have to keep the boys safe, until this whole catastrophe is over.' Thank you Mrs Weasley, we all know that you'll love to add more to your nest.

'More guards, I've always said this. If there were more guards in the first place then Potter wouldn't even have been _seen_!' Mad-eye Moody kept pushing his point, of course he would, paranoid as he is.

While everyone started shooting off suggestions, many of them reasonable. Albus looked at him with a serious twinkle. _Does that twinkle have eyes of its own?_

'Voldemort-' their reactions had improved compared to the beginning of last summer but there were still visible jerks and shudders 'knows, and we will work with that. But the question is how did he find out? Has there been a leak from within the order?'

Ever since the polyjuiced Moody incident Dumbledore placed more value on identity security than ever.

'Not that I know of, the Dark Lord found out from a source within the Inner Circle.'

A muttered 'probably told on them yourself' was heard followed by a round discrete nods. He ignored this, it was not the first time his loyalty was doubted and it would not be the last. He entered the Order as a traitor to his sworn master and he would live the rest of his life as an oath breaker.

'A source from Hogwarts?'

'Unfortunately.'

This was acknowledged with a grave nod, it was clear he already guessed who it was, he probably knew from the moment Severus broke the news. 'How much do they know?'

'Not much, but enough to harm.'

'Explain please, Severus.'

'James Potter was seen.' More muttering among the group.

'How exactly?'

'I assume his polyjuice was wearing off and the moron-

'HEY!' _don't interrupt me you mutt_

'-forgot to take a refill in time.'

'Was his identity fully confirmed?'

'They – Misters Potter and Black along with Miss Potter - were followed to the Gryffindor common room and James Potter was walking along the hall way when his polyjuice was wearing off. No questions were asked but I'm sure that you all know the degree of which Miss Potter resembles her father. No questions were needed.'

'Only James?'

'Yes.'

'They did not see Sirius.'

'Only in the polyjuiced form but the Dark Lord was able to accurately predicate who he was after being told a recount.'

'I'm honoured that he would know me so well.' Sirius piped up sarcastically.

Eyes rolled.

 _Tap tap_

Dumbledore's little habit of tapping the table –with his good hand of course- while thinking could be heard by everyone, just a pity that the same could not be said for those thoughts.

He leaned his head on the other, carefully concealed the damages with his long sleeves, closed his eyes and started planning. But Severus knew that Dumbledore was already well prepared.

Everyone watched him, no one dared to make a sound. Afraid of breaking his train of thought.

Each tap sent their hearts beating.

At last, after what felt like days, the tapping stopped, and everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief in silence.

'This is difficult indeed.'

'No shit' _always rely on Sirius Black for comic relief_

* * *

'So, how will we deal with the ferret?'

Padfoot was in the mood. Ever since the Christmas feast at Hogwarts, he'd been feeling uneasy about Lucius Jr that Malfoy kid.

'Honestly Padfoot I think we should just go easy for now, it'll upset Holly if we do too much.'

'No can do. My marauder heart is telling me that mischief must be done!'

'Then you have a devil in that black heart of yours.'

 _THUMP_

'Hey! Don't throw a book at me.' _Even if it's well deserved_

'Mischief managed' said Padfoot as he presented his well-practiced puppy face.

'Stop that, it makes me feel sick.'

'Well sitting here doing nothing all day also makes me feel sick.'

James knew that he had a point. They spent so much hard work on this spell to take them to the future (which already broke a few laws and more than enough school rules to ensure their expulsion) to find out about future events with the full intention to behave like Satan's favourite devils. And yet once they realised what a bleak future they have, they end up sitting on their bottoms following instructions all day.

So much for not changing the future, once they returned to their time James knew that Sirius was gonna hex the hell out of Pettigrew. He briefly wondered what that would do to their friendship and the effects on the timeline.

'Just wait, while I think of something.'

Sirius saw it straight away, the devilish glint in his eyes that declared to the world ' _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_.' It brought joy to his heart.

'That's the spirit Jamie boy.'

'Shut up.'

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the house, Holly was feeling extremely lost. Having done the favour for Neville, and not in the mood for homework, she settled for staring at her room. It had clearly seen better days, even though she attempted to give it a more personal touch by covering the gloomy walls with her favourite shade of green. It always amused her friends to think that the jewel of Gryffindor's favourite colour was the very colour of their rivals, but for Holly it had always been more about the connection to her mother.

She wondered what James thought when he first saw her; being someone who had his face, or her eyes.

She wanted to tell Ron and Hermione about them, but didn't want to deal with their reactions. Ron would, no doubt, be wonderfully fascinated and talk about quidditch all day with her father, which she thinks he would be very happy to.

Hermione on the other hand, would have a fit. Ever since the debacle her best friend had with time-turners in third year, she has remained wary on the subject of time travel. To make it even worse, they had used a spell which they never used before, Merlin help those two if Hermione wanted to give a combined lecture on the dangers and risks of time travelling and use of unknown spells.

She sighed.

Stuff related to time travelling always caused headaches.

Those _'Hey friends, Merry Christmas! By the way my father and god-father has travelled through time from 20 years ago. But don't worry about that, we've got it all covered. Bye!'_ messages would have to wait a bit.

But really, it was quite difficult for her to not spill the beans on such a huge matter, and they always dealt with problems together as a trio. Despite what Dumbledore says about her being the chosen _one_ and Snape's snide remarks of Hermione being the brains and the rest of them brawn - she could agree with that one to a certain extent – they always worked as a team and that's how they work best.

A skill passed down from her marauder predecessors no doubt. Having thought that, she wondered what the subjects of her headache were up to and decided to check on them.

Careful not to wake the hidden banshee near the entrance, she made her way to their rooms, only to find it empty and a note stuck under the door

 _Don't worry about us, we're just off to find a life_

'Bloody idiots.' She muttered quietly before stuffing it into her pocket and praying to any God who would listen that their boredom would not lead to something life-threatening.

The one place she did not expect them to go to was in fact the place they chose to go to, the library.

* * *

'Careful there James, pretty sure some grudge-holding ancestor of mine cursed them out of fun.'

'Interesting hobby.' James replied as he scanned the row in front of him. Although they were covered by a thin sheet of dust, he could still feel the power from those books. Curses fade with time but who knows how strong this grudge was.

'Yeah, probably did it coz some kids kept running in here to play with those _precious_ books' James watched as Sirius looked around him with an obvious appearance of contempt but he knew that his best friend was always curious about those books.

Carefully taking a thick volume with a spirally gold title curling around the spine in a language he did not understand into his hands, he was mildly relieved that it did not bite his hand off on the spot although he did feel a tingle.

'Maybe the curse wore off overtime.'

'Maybe, but we – _they_ have always been diligent with the quality of their curses. I remember once a book over there burned off half of Regulus' hair.'

Sirius grinned at the memory. Walburga had been furious afterwards and even gave him a severe beating while Orion sent Kreacher to find the best hair recovery potion for the family favourite.

It was only his grandfather Arcturus who heard of the incident and came to visit a week later that told him the same had happened to him decades ago, except it was he himself who bore the brunt of the curse and commended him for his actions because it was 'most befitting for the heir to our proud house to be so cunning at such a young age'.

It was this remark that put Sirius off from going to the library again for leisure activities.

Being so cunning meant that he was destined for Slytherin, and being the perfect heir.

James left Sirius to his wool-gathering while he scanned the pages. It was written in old English and difficult to understand, even the occasional illustrations did nothing to help him understand what he was looking at.

'Hey Padfoot, what's this section of the library?'

'Not sure, but I remember Uncle saying that this is where they keep the interesting ones, whatever that means.'

'Not sure if our "interesting" share the same meaning...' James muttered but stopped as he flicked the page.

The tingle he felt on his finger before had spread to his hand, but it wasn't strong enough for him to notice until it spread to his arm.

'Padfoot…'

'Yeah?'

'You said the curse burns hair off.'

'Yeah…'

'Does it also cut arms off?' it was getting stronger.

'Not sure, but I wouldn't put it past them to hide a nasty thing like that in a book.' Suddenly catching on to the meaning of the questions. 'Prongs? Is something wrong?'

'Uhh, maybe?' He shut the book nervously and placed it back on the shelf before patting his arm, which was going numb. 'Just a tickle really, don't fuss.'

Carefully walking towards him, Sirius glanced at the book that James had just been holding. It wasn't one he had a personal experience with, but now he might be grateful for that.

'First a tickle, then a trickle of blood and before you know it you're one-armed.' Growing up with parents like Orion and Walburga Black had given him more insight into dark magic than he ever wanted.

'I won't be unarmed that quickly, I can disarm better than you.' That pun was as dead as the creator of the curse.

Sirius rubbed a hand over his eyes, hoping that when he opened them again James would be laughing it off as another prank. But he didn't.

'How's it now?'

'Starting to sting a bit, like a sunburn.'

'Then we better think of a way to fix it before Holly finds out.'

'What am I going to find out?'

Their heads turned so quickly she could hear their necks snap.

'Uhhh…'

'Nothing.'

Holly rolled her eyes. She basically inherited their way of hiding information. It didn't work for her, and it wouldn't work for them.

She was going to interrogate them again, but other things helped her.

The pain had escalated from a light shower to a thunderstorm of sharp needles stabbing into him. Groaning in pain, James Potter clutched his arm and bent over.

 **TBC**

* * *

 **Another cliffhanger, another mystery.**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll do my best to update this as soon as I can. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope that 2018 will be a more successful year of writing, although I admit that I have been a little distracted by other fanfic ideas.**

 **Sorry (once again *sigh*) for the long wait. But I really hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

 **DISCLAIMER: HP BELONGS TO J.K. ROWLING**

* * *

Chapter 10 **Abundance of Guilt**

Severus Snape was not having a good day and this bloody headache of his was more stubborn than Miss Potter on a save-the-world mission.

After everyone left, he had stayed back to listen to Dumbledore's strictly confidential plan of how he, with his position as a double agent – _of course he would have to do the hard work in covering up other people's stupidity –_ would need to respond to Voldemort's questioning. Which was:

 _ **Tell him everything**_ _._

Ridiculous isn't it.

But Dumbledore was among those who understood that no matter what plans the Dark Lord was scheming, the events in the past must have occurred for the present to be the way it is now. Dumbledore knew that Tom Marvolo Riddle was intelligent enough to grasp that fact, and the glory seeking dark lord wouldn't want such an anti-climactic end by simply killing off his hit list number one's father before he even became a father.

'After everything, Voldemort will make a public display of it should he ever get the chance of harming Miss Potter again. So it will be of little harm to let him know that this is just a temporary situation.'

That was what Dumbledore said, but there was also a time when Dumbledore said that he would keep Lily safe.

Then again, why did Severus care for the life and well-being of James Potter? This one could've came from an alternative universe – he read several papers published by well-known mages studying the topic – and his demise would therefore cause no harm whatsoever to the Miss Potter they know. And even if he wasn't, he'll live (long enough to fulfill his fate in this timeline at least).

With that thought, he was just about to apparate to Malfoy Manor with his report until a shimmering doe patronus leaped towards him and Dumbledore who was just behind him. Seeing the graceful vision froze him on the spot, it would appear that Potter inherited more from Lily than he gave her credit for. Even though he knew that her patronus was the same as her mother's, it was still a shock each time.

'Professor please come to the library now. James is- I don't know what happened b-but I think he's been cursed.' With that alarming and very lacking message, the doe disappeared.

His headache was now beating a steady staccato.

'Well Severus, since it is a library owned by the Black family, I suspect that some type of dark magic has a hand in this.' He might as well have told Severus that his skills and expertise were needed, but no, the old man had to speak in riddles.

He had some interesting potions waiting for him to get back to… And a dark lord to report to… But if it was serious dark magic then no one would know better than Severus.

'Let's go.'

After half an hourglass' worth of time was wasted spent with the youngsters in the library. Severus was on the verge of strangling the living daylights out of the young but still infuriating Sirius Black.

What James Potter encountered was indeed dark magic, and of course you can count on the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black to hide such a nasty little bugger in a seemingly harmless library book.

It was already difficult enough to maintain his chant as he tried to decipher the DNA of the curse and therefore find the remedy to give everyone their peace of mind – and save James Potter's life – but that was getting difficult with the non-stop background noise

'Will he be okay?' _He'll be fine Miss Potter_

'You're not hurting him are you?' _Not telling you, Idiot Junior_

'Worry not, Professor Snape has a great range of expertise in this area.'

'That's why I'm worried.' _Clearly not worried enough to forewarn your friend before this mess started_

'I thought we already cleared the house of all dangerous objects.' _Indeed Miss Potter, this would not be the first time you were negligent with a given task._

They kept talking in circles while Severus was, in fact, getting nowhere himself. Frowning, he recast the diagnosis spell for a third time and the same conversation replayed itself twice more by the time his results again failed to tell him the information he sought.

He checked the pulse. Steady, and the boy still appeared healthy, that is quite lucky for a dark curse. Dumbledore had placed James into a bewitched sleep to make it easier for Severus. But nothing would make it easy for Severus to so _kindly_ rescue the boy that would steal Lily away. Looking at that face, the similarities between the two Potters struck him again, but the slight differences were also more obvious now that he received such a _pleasant_ reminder.

Standing up and biting back a groan as his knees unglued themselves from a kneeling position –fitness really wasn't high on his priorities these day, he directed his attention to his waiting audience.

'Headmaster, I have triedmy best, but-'

'HOLLY ARE YOU HURT?'

Sirius Black, the one of their time, came storming in with Lupin close on his heels. He relaxed for a brief moment when he saw his goddaughter safe and sound next to Dumbledore, but when he saw James Potter's still body, and Severus standing over it like a vulture about to gobble up its prey, the rage of old times resurfaced.

Luckily for Severus, he was not the one with a brain that had been rotting away in Azkaban for 12 years. Sirius was stupefied before he could even fully unsheathe his wand.

Luckily for the Mongrel, Lupin had his back - _literally_.

With an amused twinkle totally inappropriate for their current situation, Dumbledore asked 'Severus, was that really necessary?'

'Apologies, my reflexes took over.'

'Understandable, you are living in stressed times.' _Thanks to you old man._

'Now, we were just getting to the problem here. Ah, Remus why don't you put Sirius on that rather comfortable-looking armchair there, we can explain everything to him later and you might as well chime in to this.'

Waiting patiently for Lupin to complete his task, he continued 'As I was saying before, I have tried all the diagnosis spells I know for dark magic-'

'Dark magic!?'

'Silence Lupin.' Merlin help him, this was more disruptive than his first year defence class with the rebellious Gryffindors. 'Not only is it dark magic, but it's of a form so complex that not even I can identify the root of it.'

'And therefore you are unable to identity a remedy.'

'Exactly. However, I do suspect this to be a type of family magic, so perhaps…' a glance at the passed out Sirius Black, he would be helpful with this, Severus _almost_ regretted using such a powerful stupefy.

Dumbledore understood, thanked the potions master and sent him on his way with the promise of contacting him on any further developments. It was time for the light wizards to do some research into dark magic. The idea was so amusing Severus almost wished he had the time to stay back and watch but he had an appointment with the Dark Lord.

Meanwhile, Remus took it upon himself as a former teacher to reprimand the trouble maker.

'That was very stupid.'

'Yeah.'

'You could've been hurt.'

'Sorry…'

'No point apologising, what's done is done. What we need now is a way to sort out this bloody mess.' Remus ran a hand through his hair –or what was left of it these days. He was here scolding the poor boy while his best friend was lying comatose a few feet away from them.

He was merely sleeping, but it could turn into an eternal sleep at any moment. Except they knew it wouldn't, yet that knowledge offered little comfort.

'Look, just try to get some rest. Albus and Severus are more than capable of fixing this blasted matter.'

The boy didn't appear assured but nodded anyway. Dumbledore coaxed him to take a calming draught before they had two patients to look after and levitated James' alive but not-that-alive body up the stairs to their room. Sirius slowly followed, although the potion was taking its effects on him, his storm-grey eyes were as sharp as ever and watching his friend for any change in condition. The poor kid was clearly blaming himself.

Remus shook his head at his retreating back. Guilt won't help. The Sirius he knew spent 12 years wasting away in Azkaban, feeding on guilt. But he got out when he found a sense of purpose, and that is what they would need to find a cure for this dark magic shit.

Not long after Severus, Dumbledore also left leaving them with strict instructions about keeping James' condition under the most secret of secrets. It wouldn't do to ruffle the feathers of the order even further.

Then their long search begun.

And sweet Merlin, was it going to be a long search.

Upon a simple charm cast by Remus to single out the books in the library relating to family magic, half of the library lit up like the Christmas tree still standing upstairs.

And the library was no simple shed even if it looked like one. First impressions can be deceiving indeed. Remus estimated that it was at least half the size of house itself, given that it was in the basement.

It was useless, and endless, and many other adjectives which Holly was too frustrated to think about. They had been flipping through numerous books for hours, her fingers were coated with dust and her throat was irritated by her continuous sneezing. Her vision wasn't much better off, with the dust fog adding a thin layer to the lenses she relied on to see the world. And of course, instead of being the talented witch she is and using a simple spell –the ministry wouldn't be able to detect her _illegal_ use of magic with all the wards - she decided to use her fingers. When that only made it worse, she tried to wipe it on her top, same results.

So, with dust-coated fingers, dust-coated glasses and very likely also a dust-coated throat. She finally voiced her annoyance.

'Remus I-I'm- AH-CHOO!'

'Bless you.'

'Thank you.' Her nose still tickled. The dusty atmosphere reminded her of the days she spent in the cupboard under the stairs when Dudley decided to stomp up and down to create a dust storm in her little safe heaven and prison. But the glaringly obvious difference now was the space.

'Anyway, I haven't found anything that works. Like, I've found a lot of stuff, but things just don't end up matching with James' symptoms.'

'Neither have I, this is going to take a while.'

Trying unsuccessfully once again to clean her glasses, she asked 'What's Sirius doing?'

'Which one?'

'Sirius Sirius. Oh well, what about both?'

'Sirius the Younger is sitting vigil by James' bedside while the Older has been going through other collections of family spells and trying to cast something that has an effect.'

'Any luck?'

She watched him shake his head and felt her own shoulders sag under the weight of exhaustion and disappointment.

'How long will this go on for?' she wondered hopelessly to herself.

Many miles away, another tense answer seeking session was occurring, and Severus could only curse the idiots as each second that passed raised his chance of death.

'That is all, My Lord.' Severus finished, and bowed his head in deference with a silent sigh of relief that his voice didn't tremble.

'Time-travel…'

Severus hesitantly lifted his head a notch.

'Dark magic…'

Bony fingers tapped on the marble table, the sound it made emphasised by the ambiance of anxious anticipation from those of the prestigious inner circle. Snake-like eyes looked straight at Severus, a stare that made him quickly check his shields like a little boy trying to wipe the chocolate he shouldn't have eaten off his face.

'Severus.' His voice was soft, silent, and reflective. Not angry and harsh. But Severus remembered that soft and silent could promise a much more painful death.

'Yes My Lord?'

'How long have these people been in our time?'

Severus cursed Dumbledore now, he didn't actually say how long they had been here for, or how long they would stay. Actually, he was partly to blame as his fury couldn't let Dumbledore speak another word once he heard 'James Potter and Sirius Black… 20 years ago… travelled through time.'

'My Lord!' This would be the first time in history Severus found himself grateful to hear Bella's shriek. 'Perhaps this would be a good chance to exterminate our enemies, to kill those two bloodtraitors now, would mean that the Potter girl won't even be-'

'Silence.' He only whispered, but to Bellatrix it was the same as a condemnation from the Gods. Severus thought as he observed her whimper and shrink into her seat. The bloodthirsty confidence she displayed only seconds ago had been completely slashed away by their Lord's reproval.

Bony fingers continued to tap.

'Anything else to say, Severus?'

'No, My Lord. I have reported to you everything that was relayed to the order.' More than that even, the order still had no knowledge about the curse.

'Very well.'

The tapping stopped, and so did Severus' heart for a split second, not that he'd let anyone know.

* * *

'How long has it been going on for now?'

'Three days I believe.'

'It's madness, utter madness this whole business.' Molly Weasley proclaimed and uttered a little expletive as the bowl of stew she was levitating spilled a little. 'If she came to the burrow, none of this would have happened.'

'What? The time-travelling or the curse?'

'All of it!' slamming her hands on the table caused it to spill even more. She quickly spelled the mess away, again. 'Well, I suppose the time-travellers would've come wherever they went, but James –the poor boy- wouldn't have been anywhere near that blasted book if they came to the burrow, like they were supposed to.' Molly fumed, and finished setting the table for dinner.

Remus could only watch as the matron clucked disapprovingly at the kitchen utensils 'stir a bit quicker, before we all starve to death.' He knew that Molly saw Holly as one of her own, and Holly herself, an orphan girl who only had those sorry excuses of relatives to call family, reciprocated the feeling. But then Sirius came into the picture, desperate to piece together his life, and Holly, hungry for those with knowledge – personal knowledge – about her parents, clung to each other like leeches to bleeding flesh.

Sirius made Holly his heir, his confidante, the centre of his decaying world. Holly saw him as the father figure she would never have, and Remus regretted that he had been so distant from her in her third year. At that time, it was also guilt which kept him away. If he could eat guilt, he would've died from gluttony by now.

'I always knew something like this would happen sooner or later. That man is not fit to be a parent, Merlin knows he's been in Azkaban for-' she stopped suddenly when a chair crashed to the floor, and was met by Remus' blazing gold eyes.

'I admit that Sirius is a fool, an idiot, and a trouble-making moron. Hell, for years I thought that he had real shit stuck in his brain from some childhood prank with his cousins.' _Merlin knows Bellatrix has stepped up her game since then._ Remus took a steadying breath and tried to calm the beast raging within him. 'But he is trying his best, and you better fucking not bring up Azkaban again as a way of justifying his lack of good sense.' Molly had the urge to step back as Remus advanced towards her, but the matron held her ground and stared back, although less convincingly.

'That is very high and mighty of you, since you never once protested for his innocence.'

Molly saw the hurt creep into his irises, and felt a stab of remorse for bringing up the painful past. And she opened her mouth to apologize, yet was once again stopped when she saw another pair of eyes behind Remus.

Storm-grey eyes stared sorrowfully, but still defiantly at her. 'Came for the stew, but clearly there's more beef out of it than in.' he stormed away, and Molly heard porcelain crash.

* * *

 **In case anyone is unfamiliar with slang, beef also means argument. Puns and sarcasm seem to be my inspiration as I write this.**

 **Thank you for reading, please leave a review! :)**


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